ALGIERS – The President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune said Tuesday in Algiers that Algeria has been able to achieve its financial balance and preserve its foreign exchange reserves thanks to structural import reforms.
Presiding over the installation ceremony of the members of the National Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CNESE), President Tebboune recalled that the country was able, thanks to the structural reforms he carried out, to reduce the bill for its imports to nearly 31 billion dollars against more than 60 billion dollars ten years ago, which indicates, after the application of these reforms, “a structural decline and not cyclical”.
Stressing that Algeria “does not know, today, any deficit in its trade balance”, President Tebboune specified that Algerian receipts in hydrocarbons and non-hydrocarbons now make it possible to cover the cost of imports without any recourse to reserves. of foreign exchange.
“We aspire to preserve this balance so as not to fall into the trap of the 1990s when the deficit led us to seek help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, just as this financial balance will allow ‘Algeria to pursue its path and its foreign policy tending to support just causes in the world “, supported the President of the Republic.
Referring to the ongoing reforms in the national economy, President Tebboune reiterated the need to overcome dependence on hydrocarbons.
“I must remind you that we did not have an economy in the true sense of the word, but rather a pseudo economy based on rent, importation and inflation, financed mainly by revenues from hydrocarbons and not creating wealth. . Each time that oil prices fall, all the indicators also fall, citizens are in despair and all eyes are turned towards the price of a barrel “, laments the Head of State.
However, the crisis in the oil markets of recent years, continues the President of the Republic, “has enabled Algerians to free themselves from this dependence”.
“For 40 years, we have been trying to free ourselves from hydrocarbons … For the first time, we have set a fairly high ceiling, and said that in 2021 we must reach 5 billion USD in non-hydrocarbon exports. So far. , we reached 3.2 billion USD, While we have not been able to exceed 1.8 billion dollars for more than twenty years “, he maintained.
In this regard, Mr. Tebboune recommended that the value of non-hydrocarbon exports exceed, by the end of the current year, 4.2 billion USD, for the first time.
