ALGIERS, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The draft budget law 2018 in Algeria was adopted on Sunday by majority at the lower house of parliament, APS news agency reported.
The budget bill 2018 includes a set of legislative and fiscal measures aiming at consolidating productive investment and reinforcing budgetary revenues while maintaining national solidarity mechanisms.
The budget is set at about 133 billion U.S. dollars, while the deficit decreases from 14 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2016 to 9 percent in 2018.
The capital and operating expenditures were set at about 76 billion dollars, while revenues were estimated at about 57 billion dollars.
The tax on wealth, which was suggested by the government in this bill, has not been approved by the lower house of parliament.
Despite the country's difficult financial situation due to the sharp decline in the revenues since 2014, which would be around 31 billion dollars by the end of 2017, the budget bill 2018 earmarks about 16 billion dollars to social subsidies.
The subsidies will be directed to support policy for poor families, housing programs, health care, in addition to subsidizing the prices of high-consumption items such as wheat, other cereals, milk, sugar and edible oils.
After being approved by the cabinet and the lower house of parliament, the bill is due to be submitted to the upper house of parliament for approval.
It will be finally signed by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to be in force in 2018.
