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Angola The Economy
![[GIF]](http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/angola/ao03_00a.gif)
Women cultivate a field belonging to a farmers' association.
IN 1988 OBSERVERS OFTEN mentioned Angola's need to
rehabilitate and
revive its economy. Since independence in 1975, most
economic
production had deteriorated, and the country had become
almost
totally dependent on the export of oil for revenues. In
the wake of
the war for independence, the flight of trained personnel
and
foreign capital had left the country without the means to
continue
production. Furthermore, the prolonged insurgency, which
still
affected much of the country in late 1988, had undermined
those
enterprises that were still functioning. Although the
political and
military situation undoubtedly contributed to these
economic
problems, the Angolan economy had never been very strong,
and most
economic successes were of recent and precarious origins.
By the late 1980s, the economic potential of Angola had
not
been reached. Existing transportation networks, including
railroads, roads, and ports, serviced only a fraction of
the
traffic they were built to accommodate. Likewise,
manufacturing
industries, such as textiles, cement, vehicle assembly,
and food
processing, all operated well below their productive
capacities.
Moreover, vast areas that had been cultivated for both
cash and
subsistence crops lay idle, and Angola was forced to
import food.
Indeed, even the local labor force, which had worked on
the large
agricultural estates, was unemployed and subsisted in
displacement
camps or in the cities on foreign aid. The only exceptions
to the
general regression in productivity were in the oil,
electric power,
telecommunications, and air transportation industries.
While these
sectors were expanding, most of Angola's economic
production was
shrinking.
Data as of February 1989
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