Icolo and Bengo: President Joo Louren§o inaugurated the Casa do Kwanza on Thursday, February 27, in the province of Icolo and Bengo. Casa do Kwanza, also known as Kwanza House in English, is a facility dedicated to the treasury management of the Angola Central Bank (BNA). It is set to function as a logistics center for the storage, processing, and destruction of banknotes in poor condition.

According to Angola Press News Agency, the inauguration event began with the presentation of the project through an institutional video in the Special Economic Zone. The Head of State unveiled a commemorative plaque and cut the ribbon to mark the official opening of the facility. Following the ceremony, President Louren§o, accompanied by the head of the BNA and government officials, took a guided tour of the service areas within the modern infrastructure, which aims to address the country's cash needs more efficiently.

The establishment of Casa do Kwanza is expected to modernize, enhance security, and improve the efficiency of cash management across Angola. This development will enable commercial banks to execute cash withdrawals and deposits more swiftly and securely, ultimately leading to improved service delivery to the public. The inauguration also coincides with the celebration of 50 years of National Independence, which will be commemorated on November 11 this year.

Casa do Kwanza is a state-of-the-art facility designed to meet the rising demand for cash, attributed to the country's recent demographic growth. The BNA's new infrastructure includes five strong rooms-Pallets, Boxes, Precious Metals, Gold, and Transition-all equipped with automated systems, shelves, and robots to handle the packaging, movement, and storage of currency.

Additionally, the facility houses Automatic Banknote Processing Rooms, as well as a Manual Banknotes and Metal Coin Processing Room. The Automatic Banknote Processing room boasts the capability to process approximately 33 banknotes per second per machine, totaling over 4 million banknotes daily. It is also equipped with sensors to detect counterfeit currency.

The project further includes areas dedicated to the destruction of poor-quality banknotes, services for commercial banks, and the reception of cash directly from the manufacturer.