Angola: a industria transformadora numa economia de direccao central e planificada e em situacao de guerra (1975-1991)

The object of this thesis is the analysis of the policy and performance of the industrial manufacturing sector in Angola between 1975 and 1991, the former being the year of independence and the latter the year in which the constitutional objective of building up a socialist society was dropped and also the year in which the peace agreements that interrupted civil war were celebrated. Over this period Angola was under a system of centrally-led and planned economy. The plan, which assumed an imperative nature, was seen as the most important instrument of economic policy and as an administrative regulator of the economy. At the same time, Angola was experiencing a situation of war which, getting worse from year to year, soon had deep negative effects on the economy. Military expenditure grew very significantly, imposing a severe restriction on economic growth. In this situation, the results of the manufacturing industry, both globally and by branch, got ever worse. This thesis tries to shed light on the reasons of that poor record. The investigation that was carried out concludes that this performance was determined by two factors. The first one - the combination of the economic policy which was followed with the centrally-led system of decision-making - is of a more general nature, while the second one is more specific to the sector, and is related to the strategy which was followed -import substitution. While the latter showed itself as a mistaken and out of time option, the former showed to be totally inadequate and inconsistent to support and stimulate the growth of the manufacturing industry. Notwithstanding the war situation having had the effect of inhibiting very deeply the country's potential economic growth, this thesis shows that it worked solely as a limiting factor of industrial performance. The economic policy, the system of central direction and the policy of import substitution as well, were the most important factors in explaining the performance of the manufacturing industry in AngolaAvailable from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Servico de Informacao e Documentacao, Av. D. Carlos I, 126, 1200 Lisboa / FCT - Fundação para o Ciência e a TecnologiaSIGLEPTPortuga