President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and Minister of National Defense, listened today to a presentation during the Council of Ministers meeting on the progress of automobile manufacturing projects in Algeria.
The President welcomed the agents of credible projects working to establish a genuine automobile industry. In a new shift in the method of granting credits, the President of the Republic stated that credits for automobile manufacturing and imports fall exclusively under the purview of the Council of Ministers.
The President emphasized that the strategic goal is to lay the foundations for a truly emerging mechanical industry through the automobile manufacturing projects underway, with the goal of achieving a contribution of at least 12 percent to the gross domestic product.
The decision to make automobile manufacturing and import credits exclusively under the purview of the Council of Ministers appears to have surprised some, not because it is an important decision, but because it brought renewed disappointment to Algerian citizens.
Many were expecting a new decision that would help resolve the automobile crisis, especially after the Presidency of the Republic announced that the automobile issue would be one of the most neglected issues in the Council of Ministers meeting.
The President’s decision will not change anything on the ground. Transferring the accreditation file from the Ministry of Industry to the Cabinet is like changing hands. The President’s announcement of raising the contribution to the GDP to 12 percent in the automotive and spare parts manufacturing sector does not seem feasible, especially given the significant decline in foreign investment and the near-total shutdown of imports, which will not increase GDP but will rather cause the economy to shrink and contract.
