The projects selected by the Government of Angola to speed up the country’s economic diversification away from its oil sector will cost US$22.7 billion over the next three years. The Angola Minister of Economy, Abraão Gourgel, provided the estimate last week during a meeting with lawmakers to discuss the country’s budget for 2015.

Mr Gourgel said the Government of Angola has already indentified 36 projects it considers will help to speed the country’s economic diversification. All those projects are forecast to take between 18 to 24 months to be completed.

“The Government concluded that the pace of economic diversification was not satisfactory to achieve our goals, and that is why it approved a plan to speed up things,” said Mr Gourgel, quoted by Angop news agency.

According to him, the sectors covered by the selected projects include agriculture, mining, oil and natural gas, services, energy and water production, transportation and logistics.