The Algiers executive has inflated agricultural production data to deal with the food crisis plaguing Algeria, with the aim of reassuring citizens before the advent of the month of Ramadan, during which the demand for goods double basic consumption.
The country is suffering from a structural crisis in the national economy, which has negatively affected imports of food products, which have been declining in popular markets in recent days. This has caused popular discontent with the overall situation, given the long queues in some stores to buy some basic food items.
In this context, the Algerian governmental institutions did not find better than to exaggerate the figures related to the growth of the economic sectors and the inflation of the positive indicators of marketing in the agricultural sector. Also, they cite the example of the Algerian president’s speech on 29 million head of cattle in the Algerian market, which is false. Professionals having pointed out that the market only has 19 million head of cattle, no offense to the presidency.
The latter who also spoke of the income of the agricultural sector, which amounts to more than 25 billion dollars, a figure higher than fuel income in 2021, made many people laugh in Algeria. However, the sector’s annual report confirmed that the contribution of agriculture to GDP does not exceed 15%. Through these publications, it was readily felt that the Algerian central administration is trying to absorb the anger of internal public opinion in the face of social tension, by holding former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika responsible for the erroneous declarations promoted in economic circles. nationals.
Moroccan researcher Abdelouahed Oulad Mouloud, specialist in international relations and African affairs and professor of international relations at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech, told MoroccoLatestNews that “Algeria is experiencing, today more than ever, a food crisis. This has exacerbated the deterioration of social conditions in the country,” he said, noting that “Algeria has not faced such an acute food crisis since 1988.“.
Oulad Mouloud further stated that “Algeria is one of the countries that depend on oil as a basic resource to create a kind of economic balance in the country. However, it has not made good use of the high prices in the world market to increase the cost of agricultural production.“. Oulad Mouloud added:Algeria is injecting huge sums of money estimated at billions of dollars into the competition for continental armaments; Indeed, the army budget more than doubles the budget allocated to the agricultural sector, which has increased the rates of social vulnerability and economic poverty among citizens.“.