The National People’s Assembly convened a general session today, presided over by Ibrahim Bougali, the President of the Assembly, to present the draft Supplementary Finance Law for the year 2023 by the Minister of Finance, Aziz Faïd.
Hamza El Zroug El Zaghami, a deputy in the National People’s Assembly representing the National Liberation Front, described the increases in the Supplementary Finance Law as significant. He pointed out that when scarcity leads to price hikes, it seems as if nothing has changed; rather, it complicates matters further.
El Zaghami told DZ Watch, “Yesterday, a citizen’s basic wage was 18,000 dinars, for example, and legumes cost no more than 150 dinars. But today, the basic wage has exceeded 20,000 dinars, while legumes have reached 400 dinars. This increase is substantial and cannot be compared.”
The MP from the FLN attributed the cause to the suspension of imports in the previous period, saying, “President Tebboune’s intervention to rationalize imports was justified in order to encourage local production, which, unfortunately, does not meet the market’s needs.”
He added, “Today, I believe that even if a simple citizen’s income exceeds 40,000 dinars, it does not cover their purchasing power.”
On the other hand, Abdelkader Berrish, the head of the parliamentary bloc of the National Building Movement, explained that this year’s Supplementary Finance Law includes new measures, particularly concerning the exemption of imports of red, fresh, and chilled meat and reducing fees from 30% to 5% with the aim of correction.
Berrish told DZ Watch that the role of the state lies in regulating the market mechanisms to increase the supply of meat and balance the market.
The economic expert Berrish also presented some of the measures included in the Supplementary Finance Law, such as tax measures. People with fines dating back four years can have them waived and deleted provided they settle them before the end of 2024. This measure aims to contain tax matters.
He added, “Among the measures is the goal of preserving citizens’ purchasing power and allocating conversion expenses and preparing new cities.”
