PM Ouyahia Urges For Strict Rationalization Of Public Funds

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia called for the financial settlement of the debts of public institutions and administrations, including the rental of functional and security accommodation, air tickets in Algeria, and other financial burdens incurred by expenditures on the part of public institutions and bodies.

The Director General of the Budget, the Director General of Accounting, the Ministry of Finance, the Regional Directors of the Budget and the Treasury, and the Financial Supervisors of Ministries and Public Institutions, were enjoined by the Prime Minister to approve the financial settlement of pending debts of public institutions and administrations for fiscal year 2016 on an exceptional basis for 2017.

It also includes the financial burdens that are liable for settlement, notably regarding training debts, organization of competitions, exams and training courses, the financial burdens related to the purchase of security and employment housing, the judicial costs and the costs of lawyers, as well as the scholarships granted to students and trainees in the training sectors,

The PM’s instruction pointed out that the completion of debt must be within the frameworks of loans granted legally, and within the respect of legislative and regulatory procedures in force.

The Prime Minister also ordered the rejection of any commitment to public expenses without the allocation of its own advance payments. 

In a letter to ministers and governors, he explained that these provisions stipulate that the financing of public investment operations shall be financed by the state budget for processing within the limits of the available payment funds. 

The correspondence stressed that the previous situation was not only a violation of the law, but also a way to “dangerous drift open to deviations and excesses in the management of public finances, as some of the public managers spend money through during a period of scarce resources, by allowing themselves to go against the central decisions.

 “Some of these excesses have contributed to the accumulation of a huge amount of unpaid debts of more than 1,000 billion dinars, and sometimes the latter had remained in abeyance for two years,” the Premier said.

“The country’s fiscal deficit is going to ease thanks to loans contracted by the public treasury with the Bank of Algeria,” Mr. Ahmed Ouyahia underlined.

“Everyone has to take this woeful financial juncture into account and remember every moment that the country is going through a lot of credit”, he hammered.

The terms of the accounting and contractual documents of any project will be thus dependent on the mobilization of funds under the responsibility of the relevant supervisors”, he further underscored to this effect.