Study: 60,000 DZ as minimum salary for a decent life in Algeria

The vital minimum salary for a 5-member-family in Algeria should reach 627,340 DZ, a new study finds.

A monthly salary of 60,000 DZ is supposed to cover food, health care, clothes, education and energy consumption expenses.

The study was conducted by an education union. It shows that 60,000 DZ can be spent to buy a chicken, 1kg of coffee, a semolina bag, 4 liters of cooking oil, 5 bread sticks per day, a milk bag per day, 8 pasta boxes, 3 kg of sugar, 1kg of meat, house renting and buying clothes once a year.

The study raises question about other expenses on accessory items such as home appliance and wedding parties.

Dollar price increase and oil price fall raised concerns among Algerians.

According to the study, most of the Algerian employees live in poverty while a minority enjoy all the fortunes.

Economics professor Omar Hamza Zouaoui, the study is very close to reality as the union represents public servants.

“We expect that living standards would decline in Algeria by about 40 percent in 2016,” he told Echorouk on the phone.

This comes as Algeria will apply a new financial law in 2016, imposing new taxes and raising prices. Because of that, economic experts believe that Algerian families would need more than 100,000 DZ per month to have a decent life.