Angola has the fourth cheapest fuel in the world, but Angolans fear that this scenario will change, with the announced end of subsidies, under pressure from international financial institutions.
“The Government has been subsidizing fuel for many years, what is needed is for the Government to create minimum conditions so that people are not alarmed,” says Manuel Nazaré, in statements to Lusa, at the Sonangol gas station, on Avenida Comandante Gika , in Luanda.
The retiree refueled the car accompanied by his wife, Manuel Nazaré, and acknowledged that he spends more on buying water than on refueling the car.
Angola is the fourth country in the world where it is cheaper to fill a tank of fuel. While in Europe – and in Portugal, in particular – motorists opt for utility vehicles and take fuel consumption into account at the time of purchase, in Angola, a country with a parking lot where robust jeeps and ‘pickups’ abound ‘, this does not seem worrisome, since it is almost always cheaper to “drink” the car than to quench your thirst.
While the average price of 1.5 liters of bottled water is around 180 kwanzas (34 cents), a liter of gasoline costs 160 kwanzas (30 cents), that is, five times less than in Portugal, according to the Global Petrol website. Prices, with data updated in January 2023.
“The government has warned several times that the IMF (International Monetary Fund) wants to make this adjustment,” he said, adding that conditions must be created for workers to “compensate” for the increase in fuel.
At the same gas station, Marcelino André asks for consideration, recalling that many Angolans live far from their workplace. And he set an example, spending 16,000 kwanzas (29.7 euros) a week just on fuel.
“It is worrisome (to remove fuel subsidies), since wages are low and I think it does not combine very well either,” he stressed.
Moisés Augusto, who works for himself, fears the “consequences” of the end of the subsidies: “it will bring many consequences, first because the base salary here is not very good and then I think that things here in Angola have only gone up and that is very disadvantageous for the citizens that we consume, it is not good”.
Sitting in the car, Moisés Augusto offers a simple solution: “wages must rise more and only then things go up little by little, like fuel, and the basic basket must go down.”
Only Venezuela, Libya and Iran sell cheaper gasoline than Angola, while in diesel, whose liter costs 135 kwanzas, Saudi Arabia and Algeria continue ahead in the table, pushing Angola to sixth place on the list.
The low prices of Angolan fuel are also an attraction for smugglers who circulate between the Angola border and the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, with annual losses estimated at two billion dollars, according to data revealed by the National Police in November of the year. past.
Angola shares the status of Africa’s largest oil producer with Nigeria, but imports a large part of the fuel it consumes, with only one operating refinery (in Luanda) and another three in the design or construction phase (Soyo, Lobito and Cabinda).
In the first quarter of 2022 alone, the Angolan government subsidized 339.7 billion kwanzas (630 million euros) in fuel distributed throughout the country.
The Angolan finance minister admitted last December that the country is negotiating with international partners for adequate compensation for the elimination of state subsidies on fuel prices, a political decision that has not yet been taken.
According to Vera Daves, Angola is analyzing with the IMF and the World Bank (WB) the “possible” measures to mitigate the social impact, because “concerns remain” about the potential social impact of the elimination of fuel subsidies, which They are priced very low and do not reflect international market fluctuations.
Cristóvão Domingues, an employee of a private company, fills up his vehicle two or three times a week at the Sonangap station, in the Alvalade neighborhood, and calls for “prudence and consultation with the population.”
This issue is “dramatic, removing fuel subsidies. It would be a bit disastrous for vehicle owners, like me, it would not be good for the government to take this initiative,” said Cristóvão Domingues, who admits the irony that Angola has water bottled more expensive than gasoline.
“I think that water should be provided free to citizens, here we have many rivers and there was no need for a liter of water to have a higher price,” Cristóvão concluded.
Source: TSF
