Algerian government attacks World Bank
Be nice to people on your way up because you might meet them on your way back! So says an adage that applies well to Algeria’s hysterical and hostile attacks on the World Bank after it issued a report that merely states the obvious and urges Algeria to take action to avert the collapse of its economy and social peace.
Yet, they are heading towards structural adjustment and they will soon knock the door of the World Bank seeking loans. But by then, their insolvency and default risk will make access to international funding so expensive for a poverty-stricken but oil-rich country.
In its latest rant, the Algerian news agency APS attacked MENA region head at World Bank Farid Belhadj and accused him of serving Moroccan lobby.
Belhadj fault is that the World Bank issued a report that contained a detailed analysis of the worsening scale of poverty in an oil and gas country that has done little if nothing at all to diversify its economy.
The APS and the Algerian military regime are so angry with the World Bank because it exposed the lies of a government in disarray, unable to meet neither the economic demands of the people nor their democratic aspirations.
The APS has previously dedicated two diatribes to accuse Morocco of using the World Bank. This sort of blame game targeting Morocco suggests that Rabat is so powerful to gear a World Bank report and also shows the lack of respect Algeria has for international institutions as it continues to behave like a rogue state.
As they remain in denial, reality on the ground confirms the World Bank’s findings. High inflation and dinar devaluation together with import cuts have plunged Algeria’s population into a situation of scarcity of essential goods coupled with a collapse of the purchasing power.
As the military regime attacks the World Bank and Morocco, Algeria’s youth continue to flood to Spain. Hundreds of Algerian youth have been saved by Spanish coast guard within a few days after New Year’s Eve.
