The double oil crisis and health seems to have dictated a “refocusing” of the executive to economic priorities. After six months of governance, Abdelmadjid Tebboune seeks to strengthen its executive face of the numerous economic constraints, in the midst of the first oil crisis, doubled by a health crisis imposed by the coronavirus. The reading of the positions affected by the realignment announced Monday evening, one finds that the portfolios ‘policy’ (Interior, foreign Affairs and Justice) as well as the position of the minister of Defence – that keeps the head of the State – have been spared by this movement part, suggesting that the composition of the government Djerad II has been dictated by a economic emergency.
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Addiction to black gold
” After six months, it is important to take another step. The realization of the objectives to be achieved “, says one of the next to the presidential Palace. “For this, it was important to refocus certain areas for better optimization and efficiency. It has been made to appeal to men of experience. The economy remains the president’s priority. “In the economic circles, there is some question, however,” the real impact ” of such changes. “One has the impression that the government, blocked by the reality of the economic figures, especially the continuous decline in oil taxation and the taxation of ordinary, trying to compensate for his lack of margin of manoeuvre for announcements and personnel changes “, note for The Point Africa the economic journalist Hassan Haddouche. “But back constantly in front of the deeper reforms that Algeria needs – reform of subsidies, devaluation of the dinar, reform of the public sector… – do not spare us a cessation of payments by eighteen months. “
In fact, the algerian economy remains highly dependent on hydrocarbons. The reference price of a barrel of oil has been reduced from 50 to 30 dollars (from 45 to 27 euros) in the recent finance act complementary, while the government has decided to reduce by half the operating budget of the State and announced that it will reduce the huge import bill 41 to $ 31 billion (38 billion to 28 billion euros).
In the emergency, the authorities have appealed to a man of the house, in the person of Abdelmadjid Attar, 74-year-old, who has been minister of water Resources in 2003, and especially the CEO of Sonatrach between 1997 and 1999 after having served in several positions within the major oil and gas, including that of director of the division of exploration. The man-turned-consultant in the energy field, is known for his outspokenness. Once the installation is this Wednesday, June 24, at the headquarters of the ministry of Energy, he told reporters : “This is not the time to talk about priorities, we have ambitions and goals to reach. If I put myself to discuss the priorities now, it will give the language of wood, which is not in my habits. “
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“Forget the pension” energy
according To an official source, the objectives of this appointment are intended, inter alia, to ” move on to a phase of upgrading of resources and the development of derived products of petroleum. Algeria should maintain its status on the oil and gas market “. As a reminder, Algeria, in the person of the minister of Energy, ensures the rotating presidency of Opec since January 2020, the successor to Venezuela at the head of the organization. Last Monday, the basket of Opec, which consists of the reference price of 13 crudes, amounted to 39,85 dollars per barrel. This reference basket (ORB), which also includes the oil of algeria (Sahara Blend), has reached 38,96 dollars. It is an important progress achieved since the beginning of the crisis in the global oil market is impacted by the pandemic Covid-19 with the fall of the demand. This increase of oil prices gross is registered with the continued efforts of the 23 signatories of the declaration of Co-operation to stem the drastic drop in the price of gold black, came up to 16 dollars per barrel.
Abdelmadjid Attar was recognized on taking up his functions as ” the energy situation at a global level has changed since about ten years, in particular because of the global economic recession. There is also the drop in oil prices from 2014, as well as the pandemic of Covid-19 since the beginning of the current year. Analysts now say that the Energy sector cannot continue with the same organization and the same objectives.”
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mines, the other wealth
“The problem is that the national economy should forget the pension and energy should work on the production of new wealth in the medium term,” he defended, pointing to the area of ” work in a climate of peace and stability away from the rumors that can create a feeling of instability with executives “.
The Energy sector has suffered a lot of the major corruption cases that have hit the giant Sonatrach, but also the game’s never-ending musical chairs of leaders. In less than three years, four CEOS have thus succeeded to the head of Sonatrach. The new minister has also welcomed the creation of a ministry of energy Transition and renewable Energies, entrusted to professor Chems Eddine Chitour, who is leaving the department of higher Education. And jokingly, he wanted to “lot of courage” to his counterpart in the Mines, his predecessor at Energy, Mohamed Arkab : “Beware of the mines, it is explosive ! “Because one of the new features of this redesign is the sharing the old large ministry of Energy and Mines into two separate departments. “It was a paradox : Algeria is a major mining country, unfortunately, the mines were previously concentrated in a small direction. The mines are a wealth in the same way as gas and oil, ” says a government source.
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The statistics, “Achilles heel”
For the other sectors, the reorganization of some ministries, with information on government priorities Djerad. For example, to dedicate to the pharmaceutical industry, a whole ministry ” in order to put an end to the shortcomings in this sector and, ultimately, getting to export our pharmaceutical production “, says the next government.
another site is vested in the ministry of Digitisation and of the Statistics under the responsibility of Mounir Khaled Berrah, ex-boss of the Office for national statistics. “No sector has real statistics. The figures differ from one government to another, or even from one manager to another “, recognizes a senior executive of the State, adding that ” statistics are the Achilles heel of the algerian economy “.
As for the sector of the digital, we certify in the management team, that too much delay has been accumulated for different reasons, and for some malicious “. As a reminder, the former minister of ICT, Houda Feroun, was cited in a corruption case in which the folder has been forwarded to the courts in march 2020.
The areas of public works and transport are also split into two separate departments. “These two sectors have been grouped in the past only to facilitate the granting of the markets to some. Neither the transport nor public works have been managed, ” said another official source, while the corruption trials in progress, and involving senior State officials, including two ex-Prime ministers, remind us of the extent of the emolument that has affected the whole part of the economy, particularly the CONSTRUCTION industry.
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The concern of SMBS
Finally, another priority of the executive Abdelaziz Djerad remains the community of Algerians abroad, for which the ministry is now attached to the Prime minister and not the foreign Affairs. While in the economic emergency is in addition to a political emergency between constitutional reform and early elections – the government Djerad II will work under pressure. “We expect more cooperation and dialogue, especially as small businesses bear the brunt of the health crisis “, is meant in the economic circles. In a recent document, the summary of all the proposals forwarded to the various departments, the Forum des chefs d’entreprise (FCE) is concerned : “You can’t imagine an economic recovery with companies to land, a good part of it will have disappeared by the effect of the coronavirus. “
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