Angolan govt continues infrastructure drive

19 July 2012

Heavy investment in a number of key infrastructure projects has been key to economic growth.

That is according to economist Alves da Rocha, who explained that the improvements during the 2002-11 period has been central to the modernisation of the economy.

As part of the upgrades, significant sums were invested in improving transport infrastructure, specifically in regards to the road and railway networks.

And this spending is set to continue until 2017, with the government determined to continue its plan of accelerated economic growth.

"There was an impact on the investments made in nine years, which corresponds to about US $5 billion/year," he commented.

Mr da Rocha explained that there is a strong link between infrastructure spending and investment from private firms.

"With this," he added, "we can conclude that there is an elasticity [of] around 0.4 per cent. This means that if the value of investment in public infrastructure increases to one percent, this allows a gain of 0.4 per cent in the profitability of private investment."

Category: General