Luanda — Lawmakers approved Tuesday in the specialty commissions meeting, with recommendations and amendments, the Joint Opinion Report of the 2023 Draft State Budget, with 37 votes in favour, 11 against and no abstention.

Following roughly four hours of spirited debates, MPs of the 1st, 4th and 5th commissions of the National Assembly recommended the Angolan government to pay greater attention to issues linked to the social sector, particularly families and the national production.

The recommendations included tax incentives for companies that promote internships, increase in funds for road construction and rehabilitation, and the amount allocated for haemodialysis services.

Regarding the promotion of national production, particularly the boosting of family agriculture, the minister of Economy and Planning, Mário Caetano João, said that his ministerial department will continue to bet on the promotion of family agriculture through financial products, training and capacity building programmes for farmers.

The minister explained that the 2023 Draft State Budget allocates to the Ministry of Economy and Planning around 3 billion kwanzas for training and capacity building of cooperatives and agricultural entrepreneurs.

The intention, the minister said, is to change the paradigm of family farming from subsistence or self-sustainment production to commercial production with the aim to supply the national market.

The 2023 Draft State Budget, to be voted on February 13, provides for revenues and expenditure estimated at 20.1 billion kwanzas.

The proposal represents a 33.4 percent increase in relation to 2022, when revenues totalled 18.7 billion kwanzas.