Angola after Neto
He succeeded Neto as Angolan president in 1979. Educated in the USSR, he had served as planning minister. He led the MPLA state amid civil war and oil dependence and favored a pragmatic approach recognizing a role for private enterprise.
State and economic-policy context
He succeeded Neto as Angolan president in 1979. Educated in the USSR, he had served as planning minister. He led the MPLA state amid civil war and oil dependence and favored a pragmatic approach recognizing a role for private enterprise.
The departure of Portuguese technical and managerial personnel and civil war damaged farming, transport and manufacturing. State takeovers confronted shortages of skills, spare parts and distribution capacity. Oil earnings supported public finance without automatically restoring rural production.