Ben Abdel Rahman: Algeria always seeks to preserve the purchasing power of the citizen – Algerian Dialogue

Ben Abdel Rahman said during his speech today at the opening of the meeting of the Council of Governors of Central Banks and Arab Monetary Institutions that Algeria confirms its convictions that “joint Arab action is sufficient to solve the difficulties, and the Arab Monetary Fund constitutes a solid edifice through which our countries can enjoy a share of the financial legacy.”

The Prime Minister indicated that the meeting, which is taking place at the International Conference Center in Algiers, constitutes an opportunity to support the important role of Arab banks and monetary institutions and exchange experiences in the field of work of Arab countries, adding: “This meeting would be an opportunity to coordinate Arab efforts to confront economic challenges, especially in Monetary and financial policies, financial inclusion, and promoting digitalization in financial services.”

He added: “I inform you that Algeria, despite the various crises that the world has gone through, is witnessing remarkable developments in terms of macroeconomic and financial indicators, as the gross domestic product, after reevaluating it through reviewing the base year, reached $233 billion in the year 2022, and the average per capita share of the gross domestic product reached $5,187 for the year. 2022 ″

The Prime Minister explained that the Algerian trade balance achieved a surplus in 2022 worth $26 billion, saying: “It is also expected that the trade balance in 2023 will continue to achieve a surplus despite the decline in fuel prices compared to 2022.”

He continued: “Algeria always seeks to preserve the purchasing power of the citizen by supporting widely consumed materials and adopting an effective economic policy to confront inflation, especially imported inflation.”

Ben Abdel Rahman stressed that Algeria is moving forward with the strategy of diversifying its economy and sources of revenues and expanding its more productive investments, adding: “From this standpoint, the government recently enacted new laws such as the monetary and banking law and the investment law, which lays down the regulatory foundations as well as the necessary governance for building a renewed economy that aims to Sustainable development”.

Ben Abdel Rahman also called on various Arab countries to realize the importance of innovation and national transformation to keep pace with technologies that will bring about a qualitative leap in economic transactions, saying: “Algeria, through its new monetary and banking law, is continuing to support the digitization of its economy while ensuring the security and reliability of its financial systems.”

By the way, the Prime Minister praised the Arab Monetary Fund’s completion of the “Buna” platform in 2018 in accordance with international standards, principles and requirements in the global banking market, saying: “This joint Arab work would contribute to improving the payment infrastructure in the Arab world with the aim of facilitating trade and investment exchanges.” And secure it, through which many Arab central and commercial banks were linked.”

He added: “The global economy in general, and the Arab economy in particular, has been characterized in recent years by an unprecedented state of successive crises, as the world will witness, according to experts’ expectations, a slowdown in its economic growth, from 3.4% in 2022 to less in 2023, and a continuation of inflation at a level Relatively high, estimated at 6.8% in 2023.”

The Prime Minister also stressed that these conditions, which have led to tightening financial and monetary policies in many countries of the world, have also resulted in new challenges for all Arab countries, noting that the inflation rate, along with the rise in prices of raw materials, has posed a challenge to the economies of the Middle East and North Africa region. Especially since food price inflation exceeding 10% severely affects developing economies in the region.

He continued: “Although the economies of the Middle East and North Africa, which have official external reserves exceeding $980 billion, achieved their fastest growth pace last year since 2016, this growth remains uneven across the region, based on “Many of our Arab countries are still striving to overcome the effects of various crises, and the additional pressures resulting from the sharp rise in oil and food prices due to geostrategic tensions and the rise in interest rates globally.”

Bin Abdul Rahman believes that the upcoming challenges require governments to make difficult trade-offs, “as they have no choice but to continue spending on health care and direct investments in infrastructure facilities in order to meet societal needs in light of the inevitability of achieving comprehensive sustainable development as well as achieving food security, which is considered… “A great challenge for the Arab countries.”

The Prime Minister also revealed that external financing for the financial needs of some Arab countries, in light of the rise in global interest rates, has exacerbated the size of government debt in many Arab countries, as the external public debt of Arab countries has reached more than 360 billion dollars, and this constitutes an urgent concern for female politicians. Generality and how to adapt it to limit the repercussions on the general economic situation as well as the financial stability of Arab countries at the present time.