Angolan citizens will enjoy a grace period so that they can repatriate foreign capital without fear of legal proceedings, said the President of Angola, speaking on Wednesday in Luanda in his role as the vice president of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the country’s ruling party for over 40 years.

“At the beginning of the year the government will announce the duration of the grace period so that anyone who has capital abroad can repatriate it in order for it to be invested in the economy, in the creation of companies and jobs,” said Lourenço .

The President then said that, once the period had expired, the “Angolan State feels entitled to consider this money as belonging to Angola and the Angolans and, consequently, to contact the authorities of the domiciliary countries to have it returned to its possession.”

Lourenço stressed that it is important not to confuse the fight against corruption and other related behaviours with “persecution of the rich or of wealthy families,” the “weapon used to confuse and discourage those who have the mission to make the party’s guidelines a reality.”

“The rich are welcome if they produce goods and services, generate jobs and contribute taxes so that the state can remove an increasing number of citizens from the poverty line and expand and strengthen the country’s middle class,” said the president, closing a three-day seminar sponsored by the MPLA parliamentary group to train staff on the types of crimes to which public office holders are subject.

The governor of the National Bank of Angola, José de Lima Massano, said that there was US$30 billion of citizens’ funds deposited abroad in commercial banks, half of which are the deposits of commercial banks and Angolan financial institutions with their correspondents abroad.

The remaining half, said the governor, citing data compiled by the Bank for International Settlements, are deposits of non-financial entities, such as the National Treasury, the Angola Sovereign Fund, public companies and individuals. (macauhub)