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Algeria lower house passes 2020 budget

November 15, 2019 at 12:49 pm

Algeria’s lower house of parliament yesterday voted in favour of the 2020 budget bill and the new gas and oil law.

The budget bill was put to a vote in an open session in the absence of many opposition lawmakers who did not back it.

Algeria’s Finance Minister Mohamed Lokal said in a statement after the vote that next year’s budget maintains the purchasing power of the citizen.

Last week, Lokal told the council that the budget bill is expected to suffer a 7.2 per cent deficit of gross domestic product despite cutting spending by 9.2 per cent.

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The budget maintains subsidies on fuel and basic foodstuffs, housing and medicine while raising taxes on wealth, cars and tobacco.

It also changes the law to allow the government to seek foreign loans.

The budget bill still needs to be passed by the upper house amid ongoing public protests calling for it to be rejected.