It Just Got Easier to Trade with Angola

Angola is adopting an electronic payment system to facilitate the registration for import, export, and re-export trade, a difficult process due to administrative bureaucratic procedures.  With the new system, payment during registration will be made through Automated Teller Machines, Internet banking platforms, express multi-box, among other banking tools. The new procedure represents a welcome upgrade on the current payment system that requires dispatchers to go to fiscal districts to make the payment after which they bring the proofs to the Ministry of Commerce as part of the importers’ process. Presently, the process of importing goods into Angola is time-consuming and highly bureaucratic. In the category of Trading Across Borders, the World Bank’s report ‘Doing Business 2019’ ranks Angola among the countries with the most time-consuming import procedures worldwide at 174 out of 190 countries assessed. Import procedures in Angola require an estimated $460 and 96 hours for import document compliance.  In comparison regionally, sub-Saharan Africa averages $283.5 and 97.7 hours for import document compliance.