Angola Systematic Country Diagnostic : Creating Assets for the Poor
Angola is endowed with significant natural wealth, but it will need to better manage these resources and reinvest them into other forms of capital to establish a sustainable development path. Before independence, the country was a relatively advanc...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/337691552357946557/Angola-Systematic-Country-Diagnostic-Creating-Assets-for-the-Poor http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31443 |
| Summary: | Angola is endowed with significant
natural wealth, but it will need to better manage these
resources and reinvest them into other forms of capital to
establish a sustainable development path. Before
independence, the country was a relatively advanced economy
with diverse exports, although its population suffered under
exploitative colonial rule. Decades of conflict, during the
fight for independence and the civil war that followed,
exacted a heavy toll on the population, infrastructure, and
the economy. The end of the war in 2002 and a booming oil
industry resulted in strong economic growth, but the poor
saw very little benefit from this economic prosperity. The
dependence on oil exports has created macroeconomic
instability, and Angola has suffered periods of fiscal
contraction due to fluctuations in commodity prices.
Although the country has enjoyed strong gross domestic
product (GDP) growth, this has been achieved by depleting
natural capital for consumption, rather than reinvestment in
other types of capital to generate sustainable growth. The
recent change in leadership represents a window of
opportunity for political and economic reform that will
allow Angola to put itself on a path toward sustainable
development.The Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) for
Angola identifies pathways and priorities to eradicate
poverty and boost shared prosperity by 2030. After providing
the historical context of Angola, the SCD applies the
concept of the “Changing Wealth of Nations” and identifies
four binding constraints for Angola to reach the World
Bank’s twin goals. Oil dependency in conjunction with a low
global oil price creates macroeconomic and fiscal
imbalances, constraining sustainable growth and poverty
reduction in Angola. A weak private sector is unable to
provide a sustained growth momentum, further constraining
growth and poverty reduction. The poor remain excluded from
growth, limiting realized growth, but more importantly,
manifesting high poverty levels. Finally, weak governance is
a cross-sectoral binding constraint contributing to
unsatisfactory policy outcomes. The SCD ranks areas of
intervention for each binding constraint and selects the top
10 priorities to overcome the binding constraints. With a
new government in place, Angola is at a critical juncture to
pursue a sustainable development path to reach poverty
eradication and shared prosperity. |
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