The national director for Foreign Trade of the Angolan Trade Ministry, Adriano Martins, in an interview with Angolan National Radio called for the introduction of quotas on the import of food and drink into the country.

“Angola is a country with natural potential to produce a large amount of the products that it now imports but by September 2013 the country spent over 360 billion kwanzas on food products and almost 40 billion on drinks,” he said adding that it was a lot of money that was leaving the country and some move had to be made to prevent it.

To overcome the situation Martins called for the introduction of quotas on imports of certain goods, which may be “seasonal, quantitative or tariff based,” according to state-run newspaper Jornal de Angola.

The actual application of new customs tariffs on 1 January has brought substantial changes in terms of increasing charges on imported goods with a view to encouraging national production in sectors in which Angola has competitive advantages and production capacity, compared to its foreign competitors.