Haji Baba Ammi: “Government will finance ongoing projects but new programs will be frozen”

The Finance Minister, Mr Haji Baba Ammi, has stated that the Finance Act 2017 will not provide for hikes in the prices of basic commodities such edible oil, sugar and milk and dispelled the apprehensions triggered by some quarters by describing them as groundless, adding that the next Finance law will be aimed at safeguarding the state’s financial balances.

The Minister of Finance, sought to reassure the population on Monday, in a statement to the press on the sidelines of the presentation of the Finance draft law for the year 2017 before the members of  the Finance Commission at the National People’s Assembly, saying that the staple commodities’ prices won’t rise in 2017, despite the increases contained in the next Finance Act notably in the value-added tax system, pointing out that this projected hikes amounted to just 2 percent, stressing that this will not affect the citizens, he argued.

However, analysts  note that it must be understood through the words of the finance minister that the state is heading towards a revamping of its subsidy policy, which will not be directed to all Algerians in the coming years, and it is known that the government has allocated a financial package of around 1,600 billion dinars for social policy in the upcoming budget.

Concerning the freezing of major projects in the 2017 financial law, Mr Haji Baba Ammi pointed out that the government will continue funding ongoing projects, but the authorities won’t earmark a new budget for other pending projects because of the woeful financial situation now gripping the country brought about by the plummeting world oil prices. 

The minister explained to this effect that “the priority at the present time will be devoted to those projects now underway, and we will continue to monitor the budgets for financing them until they are completed, but regarding those future projects not yet launched, they will be frozen until further notice,” he underscored.