Luanda, Jan. 6, 2026 (Lusa) - Chinese researcher João Shang considered Angolan industrialisation "a historical and strategic necessity", advocating as a priority the local transformation of natural resources and the existence of public policies adapted to the Angolan reality.
In an article entitled "Only Industrialisation Can Save Angola", João Shang, a researcher in Sino-African relations associated with the Centre for Economic and Social Development Studies in Africa (CEDESA), stressed that the Portuguese-speaking country has the resources, human capital and potential necessary for the industrialisation process.
"The challenge now is to transform these advantages into real productive capacity," he said, considering that "Angola's destiny will not be decided by what it extracts from the subsoil, but by what it can produce with intelligence, work and long-term vision."
For the academic, industrialisation adapted to the Angolan reality is necessary, rather than the repetition of "outdated or environmentally unsustainable models."
"Angola has the opportunity to follow a path of modern, gradual and strategic industrialisation, based on its comparative advantages and the demands of the 21st century. Successful industrialisation requires coherent public policies, institutional stability, investment in human capital and a strategic partnership between the state and the private sector," he stressed.
The academic pointed out that Angola is one of the African countries richest in natural resources, such as oil, natural gas, diamonds, metallic minerals, with vast tracts of arable land and enormous hydroelectric potential.
However, "despite periods of strong economic growth, Angola continues to face profound structural challenges: excessive dependence on oil, weak productive diversification, high youth unemployment, heavy dependence on imports and vulnerability to external fluctuations," he stressed.
The Chinese writer and journalist noted that these challenges reveal "a fundamental problem", namely that "the growth model based predominantly on the export of raw materials has reached its limits", making it "increasingly clear that only industrialisation can bring about structural and lasting change in Angola's economic and social destiny".
The researcher on the economies of the member states of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) at the Chinese Centre for the Study of Portuguese Language Countries (CCEPLP) at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) stressed that for many years Angola benefited from the oil sector, which played a decisive role in national reconstruction and state financing.
"Oil revenues have made it possible to invest in infrastructure, stabilise public finances in certain periods and integrate Angola into global economic flows," he said, emphasising that this dependence "has created deep weaknesses".
The researcher pointed out that the prices of natural resources are set on international markets, outside national control, causing exchange rate pressures, fiscal deficits, inflation and social difficulties.
"This cyclical dynamic shows that wealth based exclusively on resources is unstable and unpredictable," he said, adding that "an economy that is overly dependent on resources tends to neglect the development of other productive sectors, weakening the country's industrial and technological base."
With this scenario, "the result is a vulnerable, undiversified and foreign-dependent economy" and only industrialisation can represent a qualitative change in the economic model.
João Shang points out as priorities the development of agro-industry, the creation of special economic zones and industrial parks, the attraction of foreign investment with technology transfer, technical and professional training in line with industrial needs, and regional integration.
NME/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
