Africa Monitor Intelligence

Angola: Free Trade Zones Against Lack of Foreign Investment

The national business community is decapitalized and the state, impoverished and indebted, does not have the resources to lead it to launch public investments that generate jobs. The external debt rate is around 100% (62% 4 years ago) and the magnitude of net international reserves has been constantly depreciating (AM 1221).

Foreign private investment is generally seen as the “only possibility” to promote the development of sectors of the productive economy (agriculture, industry), potentially capable of offsetting the effects of the devaluation of the oil industry (AM 1237).

The creation of Free Trade Zones (FTZ) is contemplated in several regions of the country, creating poles of attraction of investment and job creation, and the Luanda-Bengo Special Economic Zone (ZEE) itself should be transformed into an FTZ, with tax benefits for the companies installed there, for a period of 25 years. READ MORE