Benbitour: “Algeria is heading for bleak economic and financial situation”

Mr Ahmed Benbitour, the former head of the Algerian Government has staged a press conference in Algiers during which he dwelt on the country’s woeful financial and economic juncture brought about by the sharp drop in oil prices which will be certainly compounded by Iran’s renewed massive oil shipments, thus triggering a new oil price slump on the volatile world market.

From the the onset,  Ahmed Benbitour indicated that the tumble of the Algerian oil and gas exports began, in fact, in 2006, but was not visible becauseof the high price of the oil barrel at that time.

Concerning the revenues of the State, it was from 2010 that slight decreases were beginning to appear, according to him, until the price dropped drastically in 2014.

Benbitour said that even without the fall of the oil prices, Algeria was heading, all the same, towards a bleak situation of shrinking hydrocarbons revenues. 

He spoke of a financial crisis that is looming on the horizon and that will be more dangerous than that of 1986, as he put it.

To this effect, Ahmed Benbitour   warned the authorities concerned against taking lightly the current economic problems now besetting Algeria .

“The crisis of 1986 was cyclical, today’s crisis is structural,” he said before explaining that the current crisis will linger  over time given that  there is no competitive economy capable of replacing oil State revenues, while this vital energy resource is bound to decrease in quantity as well. 

The former head of Government, also pointed out  that the national oil sector employs only 4% of Algerian labour force, while representing more than 40% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

He thereby described the country’s economic situation as “critical”, before concluding with a call on the Algerian  citizens to be fully aware of the tenuous situation now gripping the country and which is feared , he said, to last a long period of time if genuine and in-depth reforms at all levels  are not undertaken before it’s too late.