It was only less than 6 months after the formation of the first government of Algerian President Abdel Majid Taboun headed by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Jarad until he found himself forced to amend it under the pressure of the economic and social situation of the country, according to the opinion of observers.
Taboun yesterday evening, a government amendment included all ministries of an economic nature, such as finance, energy, mines, energy transmission, agriculture, tourism, knowledge economy, supervision and statistics, in addition to social services sectors, such as transportation, public works and higher education.
On the other hand, the ministerial change did not affect the ministries of sovereignty, which are the interior, foreign affairs and defense that remain under the direct supervision of the president. The Ministry of Health, which faces the emerging crisis of the Corona virus, survived the amendment.
Among the most important things that the new government formation witnessed is the departure of Finance Minister Abdel-Rahman Rawya, the appointment of the governor of the Central Bank Ayman bin Abdel Rahman in his place, and the departure of Energy Minister Muhammad Arqab who assumed a new ministry titled Mines, while he was succeeded by Abdul Majeed Attar, a former minister of water resources in The era of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika between 2002 and 2004, he also served as CEO of the Algerian oil company "Sonatrach".
The amendment was marked by the emergence of a new ministry for energy transfer and renewable energies managed by expert Shamseddin Shitor, who was exempt from the Ministry of Higher Education.
The change also recorded the assignment of Olympic Judo champion Salima Swakri in the sport of the elite to succeed her colleague Noureddine Morsli, to be the sixth woman in the Grad government that included 40 ministers, without counting the Prime Minister.
President's priorities
In reading the backgrounds of the government amendment and the stakes of the president, which can be seen behind him, the financial expert Abdel Qader Braish believes that the ministerial change came to give a new dynamism to the government's work after 6 months of its formation, and to give more harmony to its work, indicating that its structure revolves around strategic files in the program Algerian President.
Priich specifically singled out the Statistics and Digitization Sector, as he was promoted to the rank of a stand-alone ministry, as well as the Ministry of Renewable Energies and Energetic Transformation, given the importance of this sector, considering that the nomination of Professor Shamsuddin Shitor as his head will provide the qualitative addition, by virtue of his specialization and research in this field.
"The creation of a special ministry for mines is at the heart of the president's interest in developing this important sector, especially with regard to rare minerals and soils," he added, expressing his hope that "there will be a strategic partnership with China in developing mining industries."
However, the spokesman prefers to reduce government portfolios and merge them into large ministerial gatherings, to reduce the state’s expenditures in light of the decline in fuel revenues and the effects of the Corona pandemic on the decline in economic activity, before he continues by saying that “fragmentation required files that the President sees as a strategic priority in his program in order to achieve effectiveness and speed. In implementing fundamental reforms. "
He also expressed his reservations about seeking help every time with the governor of the Central Bank to assume the portfolio of the Ministry of Finance, which would weaken the bank’s role and affect its stability and independence in managing monetary policy, as he put it.
Excess ministries
On the other hand, the economist at the World Bank, Mohamed Humaitoush, considered that the government amendment came primarily to give a new breath to exit from the Corona crisis that entered Algeria into an economic crisis, where "the growth rate was in the range of 2% to come down to the negative, and the authorities will be forced to consume its reserves Of hard currency versus not producing wealth. "
Humaitoush said in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that the government modification seeks to reduce the cost and lifetime of the crisis to save the national economy from decline, then work to rise again, but that requires - from his point of view - to enter into the implementation of deep structural reforms and not only directly circumstantial measures.
Hmitoush maintains the division of the ministerial structure of the economy into several ministries, stressing that it is assumed that they are merged into one ministerial sector, where there are technical agencies at the ministries of energy, mines and industry that can provide technical aspects, such as exploration, exploitation and conditions books.
The same is true regarding the creation of an independent ministry for energy transmission, where the spokesman said that it ranged between the energy ministries from an economic and environmental perspective from a sustainable development perspective, and it is sufficient for a ministerial department (directorate) to undertake the preparation of a paper of rights and duties for dealers in the sector.
And on the Ministry of Digitization, Hamitouche pointed to the fluctuation of the Algerian experience 20 years ago in this field, considering that getting out of the paper age does not originally need a ministry, but only requires a practical program that does not exceed its completion and application between 3 and 6 months according to its estimate, and the same note regarding the knowledge economy He refused to allocate a ministry to her, saying it only means how to move the economy from production to services.
Restrictions and blur
As for the new ministerial team’s chances of success, Hametouche said that what is required is to lift some reservations about hard currency reserves and improve economic indicators, but they seem to be difficult to estimate, and remain dependent on the Algerian situation with the returns and fluctuations of the oil market.
For his part, Abdel-Qader Braiche said that the government operates under a series of financial constraints and increasing social demands, while it does not gain political consensus due to the uncertainty and impact of the Corona epidemic on the public agenda.
And Braish considers that the real challenge before the government will be to resurrect the economic wheel, and create a stable environment that stimulates production and investment, while working to achieve local development, in light of the count of 15 thousand regions that lack the basics of development.