Lisbon, May 22, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese ambassador to Angola on Thursday called for an extension of Portuguese-guaranteed financing for private sector investment in the African country and a capital increase for the Caixa Angola bank.
During his speech accepting the award for economic diplomat of the year, presented by the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Francisco Alegre Duarte argued that Portugal's financing line for investments and exports to Angola should be extended to allow more investment beyond public works.
"We are in a position where we could diversify this financing line beyond its exclusive focus on public works; this diversification would be very advantageous for both parties," said the ambassador.
"In the case of Portugal, it would enhance the Portuguese business fabric in other sectors of activity, such as tourism, agro-industry, health and technical and vocational training, areas in which Portuguese companies have recognised innovation and experience, which could be an asset for the expansion of our economic presence in Angola - and from Angola to Southern Africa," he added.
On the other hand, "for Angola, which is responsible for indicating, in conjunction with the Portuguese Government, the priorities of the projects to be allocated to the line, this diversification could contribute to the pursuit of a wider range of objectives of its National Development Plan and accelerate the reduction of the weight of oil in the economy".
The financing line with a sovereign guarantee from Portugal to support exports and development was increased from €1.5 billion to €2 billion in 2023, and then to €2.5 billion last year, making it "the largest credit line with third countries, and also the largest within the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries), which reflects its strategic importance as an instrument of economic diplomacy for Portugal with the Angolan Government".
In his speech, the Portuguese ambassador to Angola since 2022 stressed the importance of the country for the expansion of Portuguese companies and said that "Frank Sinatra's maxim dedicated to New York applies: “If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere”, or, in a formula that reflects a certain pride and esprit de corps among those who work in Angola: “if this were easy, there would be others here”‘.
Recalling the more than 200 visits made during his term of office and ensuring that "the agendas of Portuguese and Luso-Angolan companies are the agenda of the Portuguese Embassy in Luanda", Francisco Alegre Duarte also defended a strengthening of the capacity of Caixa Angola bank, belonging to the Portuguese state-owned Caixa Geral de Depósitos banking group.
"Our financial muscle has been clearly diminishing and is now a weakness for our economic presence in Angola," he said, recalling that "since the collapse of Banco Espírito Santo Angola in 2014 and the sale of BPI to CaixaBank in 2017, the Portuguese presence in Angolan banking has been practically limited to Banco Caixa Geral Angola".
He added: "Despite its organic growth and the fact that it currently has the most profitable shares on the BODIVA stock market, Caixa Angola is, on an Angolan scale, a small bank, which is unable, on its own, to provide private capital to give robust support to our companies and promote the country's economic diversification. I wonder whether it would not make sense to consider strengthening Caixa Angola's capital to give it more muscle in the Angolan banking sector".
The weak Portuguese financial presence is not, however, the only challenge pointed out by the ambassador, who also highlighted the issue of the transfers of social security contributions made by Portuguese citizens in Angola.
"This is a situation that must be corrected; it is an important step towards achieving effective mobility - a goal that goes far beyond the issue of visas - but also because of the negative effects on our companies and on the evolution of the Angolan economic fabric, since the economic changes that Angola needs require the attraction and retention of talent, that is, of qualified people," he said.
On the challenges facing the country, which included debt repayment, currency devaluation, inflation, interest rates, difficulties in repatriating capital, barriers to import licences, excessive bureaucracy, challenges of legal predictability and the lack of skilled labour, the ambassador concluded that "the biggest structural challenge is economic diversification".
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