(Bloomberg) -- Angola's economy, which is expected to return to growth this year after a five-year recession, must expand at least 3% a year to provide for the needs of its growing population, the secretary of state for the budget said.
Africa's third-biggest oil producer has one of the youngest populations in the world. The World Bank estimates the number of people in the country grew 3.3% in 2020 to 32.9 million, double what it was two decades earlier.
“To generate wealth for the people we need to expand more than the growth rate of the population,” Aia-Eza Gomes da Silva said in an interview on Thursday. “A growth rate of at least 3% per year would be desired.”
The economy is forecast to expand about 0.2% this year and 2.4% in 2022, helped by higher oil prices, according to the Finance Ministry. The government is trying to diversify the economy away from crude as it boosts spending on education and health to increase jobs and improve the lives of ordinary Angolans, according to Gomes da Silva.
Despite Angola's oil wealth, more than half of the population live on less than $1.9 a day, according to the World Bank. An estimated 31% of the labor force were unemployed in the first quarter, National Statistics Institute of Angola data shows.
President Joao Lourenco will face a general election next year to try to secure a second term at the helm of a country where statistics portal Statista data shows the median age is 16.7 years. Angola's fertility rate is among the highest in the world, at 5.4 children per woman, according to data compiled by the World Bank.
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