Luanda — Angolan government Friday in Luanda officially submitted its National Plan and State Budget for 2009 to the Parliament, thus setting the first step in the process of having the two documents analysed by MPs.

The documents were handed in by the minister of Economy, Manuel Nunes Júnior, to the speaker of the National Assembly (parliament), Fernado da Piedade Dias dos Santos, in the presence of the ministers of Finance and of Planning, Severim de Morais and Ana Dias Lourenço, respectively.

At the ceremony, the Parliament was represented by the first deputy speaker, João Lourenço, the chairperson of the Commission for Economy and Finance, Diógenes de Oliveira, and the second presiding secretary, Emília Carlota Dias.

At the end of the meeting, the minister of Economy, Manuel Nunes Júnior, considered the National Plan and the State Budget as "two documents important for the country's management", stressing that the hand'in to Parliament follows the fulfilling of the related legal documents.

The two documents shall be tabled next week to the plenary of the National Assembly by the government, before it is discussed and voted within the speciality commissions of the parliament.

The State Budget and the National Plan for 2009 were approved last Wednesday at the first ordinary session of the Cabinet Council, presided over by the head of State, José Eduardo dos Santos.

The State Budget comprises revenues estimated at over three trillion Angolan Kwanzas (Akz) and corresponding amount in expenditures.