The government of Angola and European Union (EU) have signed a 36-month deal to assist the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is understood that the EU, in line with this deal, has donated 20 million euros to the southern African country to revive its economy.

The pandemic, according to the International Monetary Fund, triggered economic and health crises in Angola.

The decline in oil prices further strained the country’s economy, which is heavily reliant on oil exports.

Development Diaries gathered that a part of the grant will be used to improve the conditions in the sectors of higher education, vocational training, trade and agriculture.

The deal was signed by the Angolan Minister of Economy and Planning, Sérgio Santos, and the Ambassador and Head of the EU delegation to Angola, Jeannette Seppen.

Santos noted that the funding will be applied to initiatives already registered in the country’s budget, expected to start in January 2021.

‘These are two measures, on the one hand, to reduce the bureaucratic burden in the recognition, registration and licencing of economic activities, but on the other hand we have to act in order to get these informal operators to recognise that their self-employment or their entrepreneurial initiative can be better carried out within a framework of stability and formality’, the minister said.

The informal sector, according to reports, represents an average of 60 percent of the Gross Domestic Product in Africa, and informal activities are mostly carried out by women.

‘The way budget support is done is that instead of giving that budget support to a development partner, you give the money, I say in a very simple way, directly to the state budget’, Seppen said.

‘And then it is years, and it is part of our partnership, so it is going to be an ongoing dialogue.

‘Very technical aspects of the indicator and all that we are going to check how the fund is used’.

Source: Angop

Photo source: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies