Algeria Girds for Austerity as Oil Prices Drop

Falling oil prices and dollar values have slashed Algeria’s revenue by 80%, according to President Chadli Bendjedid, who is heading a campaign to prepare every citizen of this OPEC-member nation for leaner times.

The state-controlled news media has been mobilized and has been steadily issuing warnings to a population accustomed to 15 years of steady increases in their standard of living.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that we will be living in an economic state of war,” the weekly Algerie-Actualite said recently.

Last week, the government announced a ban on cash-on-delivery purchases of products from abroad, a popular means for Algerians to acquire items not available locally.

It also placed restrictions on the money that citizens are allowed to take out of the country on foreign trips, cutting the 1,000 dinars (about $230) a year per family member to 1,000 dinars every two years for those over 18.

The government of this North African nation also said that it could afford to finance only 25,000 pilgrimages to the Moslem holy city of Mecca this year, compared to 40,000 last year.

There are suggestions that, to preserve livestock and reduce costly meat imports, the authorities may ask citizens not to carry out the ritual sacrifice of sheep at the end of Ramadan.