LUANDA, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Angola plans to privatize 73 more assets and companies by 2026, with the process set to begin with four companies, including the national assurance company and the major telecommunications provider this year.
The announcement was made by Angola's Secretary of State for Finance and Treasury Ottoniel dos Santos in Luanda, the Angolan capital, at a press briefing held Wednesday on the privatization of state assets and companies.
While introducing the extension of the Privatization Program (Propriv) 2023-2026, the official stated that the privatization processes for ENSA, the national assurance company, and Unitel, the key telecoms service provider, would begin this year, along with TV Cabo, a television and internet service provider, and BFA, a commercial bank.
The process of privatizing the state's shares in Endiama, the national diamond company, Sonangol, the state-owned oil company, and Bodiva, the country's securities exchange, will initiate through an initial public offering next year. The government also plans to privatize TAAG, Angola's state-owned flag carrier, and Aldeia Nova, an agricultural development project, in 2024.
According to Angolan Minister of Finance Vera Daves de Sousa, the contracts signed through the first phase of the country's Propriv, have reached 953.97 billion Angolan kwanzas (about 1.87 billion U.S. dollars), and the state has pocketed 568.77 billion kwanzas so far. This value resulted from the privatization of 92 state assets and companies.
The minister said that the Angolan authorities were pleased with the results achieved in the first phase of the Propriv, which was conducted from 2019 to 2022.
Patricio Bicudo Vilar, the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Asset and State Participation Management, said the program's first phase covered a total of 178 state assets and companies, of which 92 were successfully privatized, representing a success rate of 62 percent. ■