Preserving citizens’ dignity, purchasing power, vital issue of extreme importance for President Tebboune

“Preserving the citizens’ dignity and purchasing power is a red line,” said the Prime minister in a response to the concerns of the deputies of the People’s National Assembly on the Government’s general policy statement, stressing that “this issue is the government’s watchword, in implementation of the guidelines of the President of the Republic, regardless of the country’s financial and economic conditions.”

For Benabderrahmane, preserving purchasing power is “a vital issue of an extreme importance for the President of the Republic and the government,” who “makes sure to strengthen the Algerian State’s social character, enshrined in the proclamation of 1^st November and in the Constitution,” placing the citizens at the heart of priorities in all circumstances.”

After discussing the government’s approach to back purchasing power and improve the citizens’ living conditions through a series of measures and mechanisms, the Prime minister said that the process of preserving the citizens’ purchasing power “is evident in the increase in the amount of direct social transfers, which will rise from DZD2,714 billion in 2023 to DZD2,895 billion in 2024, i.e. up by DZD181 billion (19.17% of the State’s budget in 2024).”

Among other measures introduced as part of protecting the purchasing power of the citizens, Benabderrahmane cited the increase in the salaries of workers and retirement pensions, as well as in the salaries of over 2.8 million employess and contract workers.

In this regard, the tax burden was reduced by reviewing the scale of comprehensive income tax for all the categories of salaries, in accordance with the finance law 2022, with a financial effect of DZD174 billion, in addition to tax exemption on incomes, for the people with salaries less than DZD30,000.

Concerning the concerns raised by some deputies on the relation between the executive and legislative powers, notably as regards the strengthening of communication between them and the government’s members, the Prime minister affirmed the emphasis placed by the government on this field, “according to a clear strategy that we have been implementing for more than two years in order to strengthen the interaction with the parliamentary control mechanisms and the strict respect of the relevant constitutional provisions, in addition to the contribution to the improvement of these mechanisms’ functioning.”