Algeria should not borrow money, says expert

Abderrahmane Hadj Nacer, a former governor of the Bank of Algeria, called for discussing foreign debt on the basis of a political angle. “Any nation which has a monetary reserve of $100 billion should not think of borrowing money,” he said on Sunday.

“Borrowing money means that Algeria cannot fund its projects without international partners although it is a rich country,” Hadj Nacer told a Lebanese newspaper.

“Borrowing money has always been a pretext for colonization. The only country which was colonized because of its richness is Algeria. Because of that, debt history is the colonization history itself,” he added.

He believes that Algeria should make different efforts as it has a commercial surplus and a flexible system. 

Speaking about Algeria’s economic location, the former financial official said the private sector is not similar to its Moroccan counterpart. 

“The Algerian private sectors capacities are much more bigger. Businessmen in Algeria prefer to work in legal ways even if their capital sources may be suspicious. What we need today is to develop the banking system and the insurance sector. This would fund Algeria’s exporting efforts,” he added.