The Parliament of Angola approved Manuel Dias as the new governor of the National Bank of Angola.

The National Assembly of Angola approved this Friday the appointment of Manuel Dias, appointed by the President of the Republic, Governor of the National Bank of Angola (BNA) for the next six years.

According to a note published on his “website”, the deputies considered that the economist complies with the requirements of the legislation, and emphasized his suitability, technical competence, knowledge and managerial abilities.

Previously, the deputy governor was heard this Friday by the deputies of the 5th and 1st specialized working committees of the National Assembly, who approved his appointment in a joint report to be sent to the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, with 24 votes in favor, 5 abstentions and no vote. against.

The BNA gubernatorial candidate, who is expected to replace José de Lima Massano, now Minister of State for Economic Coordination, is optimistic despite reservations from the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA, Angolan’s largest opposition party) parliamentary group.

At the end of the deputies’ hearing, which lasted almost two hours, he repeated in press statements that his medium and long-term goal is to first promote inflation around 10% and then reach the level of inflation. around 6% for Angola to meet the macroeconomic convergence targets of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

“The other goal, which is the second main mission of the BNA, is the stability of the national financial system, and obviously there are also a set of measures that will be taken to ensure that our financial system is strong and able to fulfill its main role. As for the support that he should provide to the economy through the provision of credit, this is the most important thing,” he concluded.

Asked if he was looking forward to his appointment, Manuel Diaz, who took over the role of BNA governor temporarily after Lima Massano’s departure, said he was optimistic.

“As a BNA employee, I know that this creates a lot of expectations both at the level of the bank itself and, above all, at the level of society. I understand that we have senior staff at the BNA, including staff who have already provided support to other institutions, be it government or other institutions, and obviously at a time like this I have to be optimistic because I have always wanted to work for the good of Angola , above all for the benefit of the Angolan population,” he stressed.

Mihaela Weba, a member of the UNITA parliamentary group, said she was not happy with the goal of “maintaining a floating exchange rate policy that would cause significant harm to Angolan citizens.”

“We believe that the national bank has responsibilities because we could adopt other mechanisms to strengthen our currency, namely the issuance of a gold reserve. And that didn’t happen,” he said.

“We will still have a devalued kwanza, a dysfunctional economy, and, unfortunately, we will have a governor,” Michaela Veba said, noting that “from an academic point of view, the candidate has the parchments that are needed for the position for which he’s appointed.”

“However, let’s not forget that from 2016 to 2023 he was the Deputy Governor of the BNA, and therefore, if the BNA policy failed, he also has his own fingerprints,” the deputy stressed, stressing that “obviously” the UNITA Parliamentary Group cannot “confirm” his appointment.

“Given the history of the national bank and the policy, whether monetary or foreign exchange, which the BNA has decided to adopt, is not favorable to Angola, is not favorable to the Angolans, and therefore cannot be approved by the UNITA parliamentary group, is not a vote of confidence,” he stressed. He.

Manuel da Cruz Neto, a member of the Parliamentary Group of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA, in power), said that the hearings were aimed at examining the technical and human capabilities of the candidate.

“We noticed that this is a candidate who has been working at the National Bank of Angola since 1997, many years ago, and has always held positions of responsibility (…) in a way that, in principle, would give us guarantees that would cope well with his new functions,” said the MP from the majority party.

Manuel Antonio Thiago Diaz was born on February 2, 1967 in Quansa Norte. He has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Bordeaux in France. He joined the BNA in 1997, where he held various positions until his appointment in 2016 as Deputy Governor, which he held until this year (2023) before being appointed to the recent position of Interim Governor of the BNA.

NME/RCR // JH

Portuguese / End