Ministry of Finance “to forbid acquisition of tools, clothing and staging of unnecessary training sessions”

Mr. Haji Baba Ammi, the Finance Minister, has issued a firm instruction to all financial sectors enjoining them to duly embark upon the process of rationalization of expenditures notably in the process of buying the tools and supplies, furniture and lessening of training sessions, both inside and outside the country with the exception of the strategic customs sector which couldn’t do without regular training sessions.

Informed sources told “Echorouk” that the ministerial instruction which dates back to 24 October of this year came under the title of “saving procedures in the managing of the expenses in the financial sectors as part of the 2017 fiscal year”.

The finance Minister also said that the government will stabilize public spending over the next three years without making budget cuts.

“We will not slash budget expenditures but we will stabilize it over the next three years,” added Mr. Baba Ammi.

In other countries, hewent on to say, the budget cuts result in layoffs, rising unemployment rates and halting of public projects, while in Algeria the government has continued to fund projects under achievement and maintained social gains and continued subsidizing general consumer goods.

According to the Minister, it isn’t out of austerity that the government has refrained from launching new projects but rather for the sake of duly completing those already under construction.

Mr. Baba Ammi explained in this connection, that the preservation of social benefits that cost the state almost 30% of GDP should result in 2017, in stable commodity prices and maintaining of expenses for the sectors of education, and health as well as for the system of youth employment promotion.

In this context, he argued that the VAT increases provided for in the 2017 draft finance law only applies in any case to staple commodities which are automatically exempted from this tax.

“The government’s social policy will be maintained as long as the government has not implemented an effective system of subsidies,” suggested the minister, stressing that a viable subsidy scheme is currently being studied.

In this sense, Mr Baba Ammi recognized that generalized subsidies that weigh heavily on the state budget are not fair because they aren’t always enjoyed by the most disadvantaged sections of the Algerian population.