ORSB – ANGOLA COUNTRY STRATEGY PAPER 2011 - 2015
Business
Environment
Competitiveness
SADC’s regional corridors have been
completed. The rail sub-sector is made
up of 3 main lines that cross the country
in three horizontal corridors, from the
ports of Luanda, Benguela, Nabime to
neighboring DRC, Zambia, Namibia. All
are under rehabilitation but still do not
connect to the bordering countries.
2.3.6 Angola has combined high
economic growth with an extremely
challenging and difficult business
environment (see figure 5). Several
liberalizing reforms were made but the
country still registers minor progress in
business environment and liberties
rankings11. Inefficient regulatory system
and bureaucracy pose considerable
challenges for businesses operating in
the country. EFI gives the country 43.4
points in 100 possible on Business
Freedom due to the constrained
regulatory environment. A general lack
of capacity and largely ineffective
commercial
dispute
settlement
mechanism hampers Angola's legal and
judicial system.
2.3.4 The sea and airport facilities
are
strained
and
undergoing
rehabilitation or expansion. Angola
has 4 deep water sea ports, namely:
Luanda, Lobito, Benguela and Cabinda.
The first three ports fall within the
context of the SADC region and have
the potential to serve the landlocked
countries to the east through logistic
corridors. The port of Cabinda services
the region’s oil and gas industry. Air
transport is critical in a country with the
size of Angola. There are eight airports,
but only Luanda’s is international.
Information
and
Technology (ICT)
and
Figure 5 - Doing Business Indicators
Communication
2.3.5 Angola’s
ICT
sector
is
developing fast, although general
public access to services is still
limited. There are several telecom
operators (with state-owned Angola
Telecom, remaining the dominant
presence), and a national sector
regulator - Inacom. Internet provision is
open and relatively competitive, despite
international traffic bottlenecks derived
from limited connecting capacity to the
international
backbone.
A
major
submarine cable following Angola’s
coastline is set to boost the coastal
cities’
access
to
internet
and
communications.
A
network
of
subsidized public phones is made
available by the private fixed line
operators to increase access of ICT to
poorer communities.
Source: AfDB Statistics Department 2009 (widest = worst)
2.3.7 The Bank conducted a Private
Sector Country Profile (PSCP)12 in
2009 which provided extensive
information and recommendations.
The main obstacles to PSD at the level
of
Business
Environment
were
considered to be (i) insufficient
Angola ranks as 154th freest in 183 countries and 33rd out of 46 SSA
countries on Heritage Foundation’s Economic Freedom Index (EFI); it is
placed at 169th out of 183 countries in WB’s Doing Business Report 2010.
12 See ADB (2009) PSCP. Due to the unavailability of extensive
quantitative data, the study comprised meetings with all key stakeholders,
and undertook 42 interviews with major PS players to collect information.
11
10