Angola: State off Financial Action Task Force grey list in short term – minister

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Angola: State off Financial Action Task Force grey list in short term – minister

9:04 CAT | 18 Nov 2024

File photo: Reuters

The Angolan government said on Friday that it is taking steps to “in the short term” get off the “grey list” of enhanced monitoring by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), guaranteeing that it will remedy the 17 outstanding deficiencies.

The assurance was given today by Angola’s Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano, who said that the country had overcome 70 of the 87 deficiencies noted in 2023 by this organisation that fights money laundering.

“And it was from this assessment that we had a set of recommendations that have been dealt with, many of them with the intervention of parliament, we even have some draft bills that are still here and we hope that they will be dealt with and that we will then fulfil the 17 deficiencies that are still open,” said the minister.

In parliament, during the plenary session that approved the first reading stage draft bill for the 2025 state budget, where deputies expressed concern about Angola’s presence on the “grey list”, Massano promised to work to reverse the situation.

According to the Angolan minister, in light of this scenario, there is “a strong commitment” from the country’s authorities to do everything they can to ensure that “within a short time horizon” Angola can get off the FATF’s reinforced monitoring list.

“And we therefore want to count on everyone’s contribution, including the honourable members,” to quickly get out of this condition, he stressed, also citing the presence of South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and DRCongo to maintain that Angola “is not an isolated case”.

The Financial Action Task Force announced at the end of October that it had included Angola on its ‘grey list’, as the list of countries that are subject to increased monitoring by the organisation is known.

The announcement was made by the president of the body, Elisa de Anda Madrazo, at the end of a plenary meeting in which she emphasised that “the process of inclusion on the list is not a punitive measure”.

With regard to the assumptions of the draft state budget (OGE), which includes revenue and expenditure of 34.63 trillion kwanzas (around €35 billion), José de Lima Massano assured that the proposal includes actions aimed at stimulating national production.

He said that the state budget provides for the review, recovery and expansion of the country’s network of silos and slaughterhouses, the recovery and enhancement of irrigated perimeters, the recovery of water catchment systems to support agriculture and the creation of the Angolan Cereals and Grains Agency.

The minister also stressed to MPs that the 2025 draft budget also provides for boosting the production of fertilisers, soil improvers and manual agricultural equipment, reducing the tax burden for small farms, as well as the continued development of the Agricultural Development Support Fund (FADA), the Angolan Active Venture Capital Fund (FACRA), the Credit Guarantee Fund and the Development Bank of Angola to support the productive sector.

Source: Lusa