The Algerian employee struggles to make ends meet, exhausted by having to face daily rising prices and various charges with a salary that is now worth half of that of a decade ago. Even if, in reality, it has not changed!
While the average price of consumer goods and services has doubled in Algeria during the last decade, wages have remained frozen. An economic anomaly the consequence of which is to have tipped entire social categories into precariousness.
A non-exhaustive comparative study between average prices in 2010 and those in progress in 2021, passed on by the president of the consumer protection association (Apoce), Mustapha Zebdi, shows the extent of the damage that this economic incongruity has caused to the overwhelming majority of Algerians. The purchasing power of Algerians has deteriorated in an incredible way.
The comparison concluded in particular that the salary of 2010 lost 50% of its value in 2021 due to price increases.
“More than half of the monthly salary has lost value”
From the outset, a first observation emerges: “More than half of the monthly salary has lost its value because of the increase in the general average of prices”.
Over the past decade, the average price of basic consumer goods has doubled. Let us take the example of a kilogram of lentils whose average price has gone from minus 100 DA to 250 DA; the price of the kilo of white beans goes from 160 DA to 270 DA.
When the kilo of rice costs today 150 DA on average, it was worth 80 DA ten years ago. In the past year, pasta prices have experienced dramatic increases following the government’s decision to remove the subsidy for soft wheat and durum wheat for the manufacture of other types of flour and pasta. and couscous, before restoring it.
The kilo of couscous, among the most consumed dishes in Algeria, currently sells for 170 DA while its price was at an average price of 90 DA. Pasta has also seen its price jump from single to double, half a kilo costs 75 DA instead of 40 DA.
The quintal of semolina went from 2,500 DA to 4,500 DA. A box of powdered milk that cost 220 DA goes to 350 DA. The industrial tomato of 500grs saw its price jump from 160 DA to 250 DA.
In the meat register, the finding is the same. From less than 250 DA per kilo, the chicken has risen to 350 DA on average (it has been selling for more than 400 DA/kilo for a few days, editor’s note).
The sardines formerly often present on the plates of Algerians are now increasingly rare, and in the meantime, the kilogram has soared to reach 1,000 DA (before falling to 500-700 DA), while it was in below 250 DA.
The time when a kilo of sardines cost 100 DA is a long time ago. Boosted by the Covid pandemic that began in 2019, the use of hygiene and cleaning products has increased and their prices have increased significantly.
Electricity tariffs, after the Ouyahia government had set tariffs according to three consumption thresholds, now weighs more heavily in household budgets.
They have also added other “charges” to their budgets such as Internet subscriptions and smartphone prices, which have become essential. Just like the vehicle whose prices have more than doubled in the space of a decade (2010-2021).
A vehicle that was worth 700,000 DA in 2010 now costs more than double, and it still has to be found. A strangeness when we know that the vehicle which has been running for ten years normally sees its price drop significantly.
And since new vehicle imports and local vehicle assembly have been suspended, used car prices have reached unimaginable levels.
And when a citizen is fortunate enough to own a vehicle, the costs that are inherent in maintenance are straining the budget. The price of a liter of gasoline rose between 2010 and 2021 from 19 to 45 DA.
The increase is reflected not only on the motorist but also on the citizen who now pays more for the price of transport.
The charges related to the rent are not left out, since a monthly rent which was 8,000 DA in 2010, now costs three times. Even if Mustapha Zebdi speaks of a national average of 14,000 DA in 2021, many owners under-declare the price before the notary to avoid paying taxes on the actual amount. Care at the private doctor is also more expensive for patients who pay 2,000 DA for a consultation.
Teachers and doctors are stepping up to the plate
The erosion of purchasing power has pushed professional categories to pound the pavement on several occasions to demand wage increases. In education, unions demand an average salary of 80,000 DA for a teacher to live “with dignity”.
In 2007, the Cnapest (union in the education sector) carried out a study that revealed that the minimum wage for a dignified life should not be below 50,000 DA.
“It goes without saying that the needs in 2021 are no longer the same as in 2007. Today the needs have grown. The value of the dinar in 2007 was higher compared to the current strong devaluation. Social benefits in 2007 were better than in 2021, etc. As a result, there are many aspects that have deteriorated compared to previous years,” Cnapest spokesperson Messaoud Boudiba told TSA last May.
Last May, a collective of fourteen education unions observed a three-day strike to denounce the deterioration in the purchasing power of teachers.
During the same month of May, another professional category also wanted to make its voice heard. These are general practitioners and public health specialists.
“The doctor today must touch at least 120,000 DA at the start of his career,” Dr. Lyes Merabet, president of the National Union of Public Health Practitioners (SNPSP), told us last May.
After thirty years of practice, Dr. Merabet was able to measure the degree of deterioration in the standard of living of the public health doctor.
“At the end of the 1980s, the doctor received up to 6 times the minimum wage (minimum wage) which was then 1,200 DA. Thirty years later, the salary of a general practitioner in the public sector is only 2.5 the minimum wage (20,000 DA)”, explained the general practitioner.
