Algeria accuses World Bank of wanting to destabilise country over latest economic report
In a commentary on the report, the official news agency APS accused the World Bank of going "outside its framework as an international financial institution to transform itself into a tool of manipulation and propaganda", and of producing "biased and malicious information on the economic situation in Algeria".
The Algerian agency has argued that the World Bank's letter is instigated by countries that are enemies of Algeria. So much so that it denies that there is poverty in Algeria and urges the World Bank institution to report on the situation in Morocco. "The World Bank evokes poverty in Algeria, while ignoring the alarming, even dangerous situation of precariousness that prevails in Algeria's neighbouring country to the west," the article states. These accusations are conducive to the escalation of tensions between Morocco and Algeria, in this case by putting an international institution in the middle.
According to the APS article, the data in the World Bank's economic report is erroneous, stating that Algeria "is experiencing an improvement in all areas, including the growth rate". It also points out that Algeria has managed to generate a surplus for the first time and to be the only country on the continent to have no debt. It also points to progress at the political and social level, especially after the era that began in 2019 with the election of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Moreover, it claims that this report also attempts to "tarnish Algeria and sow doubts among Algerians, especially after the images of unity and communion that the country recently experienced following the national football team's consecration in the Arab Cup - FIFA".
In any case, the World Bank's recently published report on the economic situation in Algeria made gloomy forecasts for the country's main economic indicators due to the slow implementation of reforms. Economic recovery in the non-hydrocarbon sectors is also reported to have lost momentum, remaining largely incomplete, while inflationary risks materialise. "The Algerian economy is experiencing a fragile recovery," says the financial body.
GDP therefore also contracted during the first two quarters of 2021, following the weakening of construction and services activity. "Public spending stagnated, non-hydrocarbon sectors slowed and average annual GDP growth fell by 1.1% between 2017-2019, causing GDP per capita to decline," explains the World Bank. The economic report, which notes the lack of decisive implementation of the reform agenda, suggests that the prospects for economic recovery will be fragile.
The report also devotes a chapter to issues related to natural disaster risk management in Algeria, a point also criticised by the news agency, which says that the World Bank "shamefully arrogated to itself the right to predict an earthquake that would devastate the capital, creating and feeding a psychosis among the population".
