Angola’s industrial park reform faces the test of execution

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Industry Minister Rui Miguêns has championed a new framework that opens industrial parks to private operators. September’s official production data, however, show why legal change alone cannot deliver diversification, the monthly rebound was led by extractive industries, while manufacturing barely grew from August.

JOHANNESBURG — Angola’s industrial production rose 8.89% in September from the previous month, with extractive industries making the largest contribution to the increase, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE). Manufacturing output rose by 0.13% month on month.

The figures sharpen the question facing Industry and Trade Minister Rui Miguêns de Oliveira: can a new management model for industrial parks turn existing capacity into sustained manufacturing growth?

President João Lourenço approved the new legal framework for the Industrial Development Poles and has set a government target to raise industrial capacity utilisation from 54% to 65% by 2027. Miguêns presented and defended the reform.

The two roles are distinct: the president set the policy direction, while the minister has led the sectoral case and will be judged, with the wider government, on delivery.

A new model, with execution still to prove itself

Presidential Legislative Decree 2/26, dated 10 February, replaced the poles’ exclusively public management model with a framework that allows private entities to receive concessions to manage and operate them. The sequence was parliamentary authorisation in January, the presidential decree in February and implementing regulations in May 2026.

In Parliament, Miguêns argued that private participation and clearer rules could address weaknesses in the previous model and make the parks more attractive to investors.

The framework gives the Institute for Industrial Development and Technological Innovation of Angola (IDIIA) responsibility for awarding concessions and coordinating the national network.

The implementing regulation sets procedures for selecting managers and organising park operations. Private operators may take on management and exploitation, but the state retains responsibility for oversight, transparent tenders and ensuring that the parks have functioning infrastructure and services.

The legal groundwork is in place. The harder phase is operational: awarding concessions, completing infrastructure and getting factories into production.

During a ministerial visit to the Lucala Industrial Development Pole in Cuanza Norte, officials reported that the park had fallen short of its targets and that the first concessions were still being prepared. At the time, ST New Material had invested about $30 million in its current phase and outlined a three-stage plan worth $500 million, but still faced constraints before operations could begin.

Those figures describe the project as reported during that visit; they do not establish its current status.

Lourenço’s target puts implementation in focus

The industrial policy forms part of the government’s economic diversification strategy and the 2023–27 National Development Plan.

In his October State of the Nation address, Lourenço set the target of raising industrial capacity utilisation from 54% to 65% by 2027, and called for financing to support productive projects beyond traditional food and beverage segments.

The target is a government-wide commitment. Its delivery will depend on MINDCOM, private investment and the operating conditions facing factories.

Lourenço also said that PRODESI had disbursed more than Kz 1.298 trillion by 2024, supported about 6,300 projects and contributed to more than 100,000 jobs. The programme covers several sectors, so those totals should not be read as industrial results alone.

Miguêns, who has served as minister since July 2023, has advanced the sectoral agenda through the case for a new management model, productive financing and closer links between agriculture, industry and trade. The minister’s central test is whether the legal changes become concessions awarded, infrastructure delivered and factories operating at viable capacity.

Manufacturing is growing from a small base

Manufacturing expanded by 10.50% in 2025, outpacing overall GDP growth of 3.13%, but accounted for 6.84% of the economy, according to INE’s preliminary national accounts. Agriculture and forestry represented 23.06% of GDP, trade 19.27%, and oil and gas extraction and refining 13.95%.

These figures compare manufacturing with broader sector groupings; they are useful as a guide to economic structure, but are not like-for-like industry categories. The main point is that manufacturing’s faster growth has yet to give it a large share of output.

Industry can support diversification by turning agricultural and mineral inputs into higher-value goods, building domestic supplier networks and reducing exposure to imports. That contribution depends on competitive prices and quality, reliable supplies, logistics and access to energy. Import substitution is durable only when local producers can retain markets and add value inside the country.

National accounts for the second quarter of 2026 recorded year-on-year growth of 12.22% in manufacturing and cumulative growth of 9.72% in the first half. GDP grew by 8.74% in the quarter. Separately, MINDCOM reported 992 industrial units in the second quarter, 44.19% more than a year earlier, and capacity utilisation of 54%, up from 48%. The ministry did not publish detailed methodology for the unit count or utilisation rate alongside those figures.

September’s rebound was driven by extraction

INE’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) rose 8.89% in September from August and 8.46% year on year. Extractive industries grew 14.17% during the month, while manufacturing rose 0.13%. Manufacturing nevertheless stood 47.83% above September 2025, the strongest year-on-year sectoral increase reported by INE. Electricity, gas and steam production fell 0.99% month on month.

The contrast between the monthly and annual readings matters. The sharp September rise in the overall index was led by extraction, while manufacturing’s much stronger year-on-year comparison points to gains from a lower base or earlier weakness.

The IPI measures industrial output; it is not the same as industrial value added in the national accounts, and one month’s movement is not evidence of a durable trend.

Production figures alone cannot establish whether an output recovery is translating into stronger company revenues or hiring. Those measures will be essential to judging whether the reform is creating a broader industrial recovery.

Financing will be judged by delivery

PRODESI disbursements reached Kz 70.172 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up from Kz 26.966 billion a year earlier, a 160.3% increase, MINDCOM reported. Manufacturing received 73.4% of the funds. Disbursement measures financing provided, not production delivered. Its impact should be assessed through completed projects, operating capacity, sales, jobs created and repayment.

The test for Miguêns’ reform is whether new rules and financing produce functioning industrial parks and competitive factories. Lourenço has set the political target; MINDCOM is responsible for sectoral implementation; private managers will be accountable for investment and park operations.

Progress should be measured by concessions awarded, infrastructure completed, firms in operation, output sold, formal employment and manufacturing’s share of GDP. A change in the management model is an institutional step. It is not, on its own, proof that Angola’s economy is diversifying.