Vera Esperança dos Santos Daves De Sousa (born 1984) is an

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

n politician who has been the country's

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

since 2019.

Early life and education

Daves was born in

Luanda Luanda () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major Angola#Economy, industrial, Angola#Culture, cultural and Angola#Demographics, urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atl ...

and has a degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

from the

Catholic University of Angola The Catholic University of Angola (''Universidade Católica de Angola'', UCAN) is a Catholic institution in Angola's capital of Luanda. On 7 August 1992, the government of Angola allowed the Angolan Catholic Church to establish its own university. ...

Career

Daves was the head of research for a local bank in 2011, and became a regular commentator on TV discussing finance and the economy. The chair of the Capital Markets Commission,

Archer Mangueira Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

, saw her on television and invited her onto the board. She was the executive administrator of the commission from 2014 to 2016 and replaced Mangueira as head of the commission in 2016. Daves is the co-author of a book on public finance with Alves da Rocha, a professor of economics. Daves served as Angola's Secretary of State for Finance and Treasury before being appointed by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

João Lourenço as

on 8 October 2019 at age 35, the first woman to hold the role. She succeeded Mangueira, who left the role to become governor of

Namibe Province Namibe Province is a province of Angola. Under Portuguese rule it was the Moçâmedes District. It has an area of 57,091 km2 and had a 2014 census population of 495,326. The port and city of Moçâmedes is the capital of the province with a ...

. Daves joined the Political Bureau of the ruling

MPLA The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social dem ...

party at an extraordinary congress shortly before her appointment. She has been described as a "very disciplined, well prepared and competent technician." When she took on the role, Daves was tasked with restructuring the country's economy, Africa's fifth largest. In March 2020, she announced that the country was in a

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

, and that the Finance Ministry was revising the General State Budget due to the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

and in April, she announced all contracts whose funding had not been secured were suspended based on the low

price of oil The price of oil, or the oil price, generally refers to the spot price of a barrel () of benchmark crude oil—a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Crude, Dubai Crude, OPEC ...

and the impact of the pandemic on public finances.

Other activities

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies ...

(AfDB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019) *

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

(IMF), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019) *

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2019)Board of Governors

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daves, Vera Living people 1984 births People from Luanda Women government ministers of Angola Finance ministers of Angola Female finance ministers MPLA politicians 21st-century Angolan women politicians 21st-century Angolan politicians