The Angolan banking sector granted US$900 million in loans under the Angola Investe program between 2013 and 2017 for the execution of 515 projects, the Angolan secretary of State for the Economy, Sérgio dos Santos announced on Wednesday in Luanda.

The secretary of state, speaking on the sidelines of the opening of the first National Production Congress, a meeting promoted by the Angolan Business Confederation (CEA), said the State disbursed US$450 million to pay interest subsidies, to create the credit guarantee fun and the Angolan Capital Asset Fund (FACRA).

After considering the results of Angola Investe to be “satisfactory,” dos Santos added he hoped that, despite the country’s difficulties, the programme would achieve better results in the 2018/2022 period, in order to allow the non-oil sector to grow at a rate of 5.1% per year.

The Secretary of State acknowledged a number of constraints on access to credit, which banks attribute to a lack of quality of investment projects, knowledge of the entrepreneurs themselves to put the projects on paper and to support them.

In order to address these issues, namely lack of knowledge, guarantees and repayments, the government has specific programmes, such as the National Institute for Support to Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Inapem), which is working to train entrepreneurs.

Dos Santos said that the government is studying the possibility of merging Inapem with Instituto de Fomento Empresarial in July, two institutions that are working to train entrepreneurs. (macauhub)