A lack of transparency and poor budget execution have contributed to the country’s weak economic growth, further exacerbating poverty and regional disparities, according to several experts who spoke at a meeting organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to analyze the General State Budget (OGE 2026), with a focus on the social sector.

The OGE 2026 calls for a 13% increase in the social sector, bringing the total to 8.4 trillion Kz compared to the 2025 projection. This sector includes areas such as Education, which is projected to grow by 2% to 2.3 billion Kz; Health, with an 8% increase to 2.1 billion; and Housing and Community Services (+41% to 2.4 billion).

Although these increases exist on paper, their actual implementation is what truly matters, and Angola has a long history of failing to meet spending targets in the education and health sectors—a trend that has increasingly distanced the country from fulfilling its internationally agreed-upon goals of spending 20% of the budget on education and 15% on health. This stands in contrast, for example, to spending in the defense and security sectors, where, year after year, spending consistently exceeds budgeted amounts.

It is for these reasons that several economists have repeatedly asserted, year after year, that the State Budget Laws (OGE) are now merely a matter of fulfilling a legal obligation to meet deadlines, since macroeconomic targets are consistently missed and actual execution repeatedly deviates drastically from the plan. This happens, above all, because most current revenues come from oil, whose price is highly volatile and whose domestic production has been in decline for over a decade, which ultimately affects projections and, subsequently, actual execution.

The fact that more than half of expenditures go toward debt service—in a scenario where most of the external debt carries variable interest rates—also affects projections and, subsequently, actual spending. These circumstances then force the government to make choices: where to allocate the little money that remains after current expenditures have been paid.

The reality is that the priority has been defense and security rather than, for example, education. Therefore, UNICEF recommends conducting an in-depth analysis of the causes behind the low budget execution rates in these social sectors—particularly the decline in education spending from 78% to 58% between 2024 and 2025—and adopting corrective measures and rigorous targets to ensure the effective use of allocated resources.

For Pietro Toigo, the representative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Angola, the major challenge at this time is to offset the decline in oil production with other types of revenue being generated, particularly through economic diversification and tax collection. In his view, Angola must consistently achieve economic growth in the range of 7% to 8% to improve the lives of its people. When the economy grows at a slower rate than the population—in percentage terms—it means the country is not creating enough jobs to support its population, leading to further impoverishment.

According to the AfDB representative, the budget’s credibility depends on efficient execution, which has been lacking in Angola, “because there is no point in approving a budget with a certain structure only to execute a completely different one.”

He also highlights transparency issues that have damaged the country’s image in the eyes of international institutions.

For his part, economist Carlos Rosado de Carvalho also agreed that budget execution has been a major problem for the country’s economy and that the progress made has been very limited.

“The levels we’ve reached remain very low even when compared to low-income countries, and we consistently rank at the bottom in terms of investment in education and health,” he said, noting that this is not a matter of a lack of funds, because the country spends vast sums on fuel subsidies and “the construction of conference centers.”

On the other hand, Carlos Rosado de Carvalho does not understand how housing—specifically the construction of urban centers—can be the largest category of social spending, as, in his view, these projects serve to buy votes for elections.

However, according to Expansão’s findings, the sharp increase in spending in the Housing and Community Services sector is due to the fact that the government classifies a significant portion of its expenditures on road construction and rehabilitation, as well as other services such as water and sanitation, under this sector. Regarding education, the university professor believes that the lack of investment in the sector is “a deliberate choice,” because “people who are educated and informed are demanding and want transparency,” which poses a nuisance to those in power.

Finally, the economist points out that the problems have been identified, as have the priorities, and that decision-making now rests with the country’s leadership. ADRA Director General Simione Chiculo, meanwhile, points out that regional disparities constitute a “huge gap” between those most in need and those who currently benefit, leading many experts to question the criteria for allocating funds by province or region.

“Unfortunately, reality shows that the areas most in need are the ones that receive the least in terms of the budget, and then another problem arises: the quality of services and the level of budget execution, which is more significant in the interior of the country,” he states.

*Source: Expansão