ALGIERS, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Algerian Finance Minister, Abderrahmane Raouia, on Monday reassured that the government will only resort to foreign debt to finance mega investment projects.
Raouia made the remarks in an interview with the national radio, citing the example of the mega port of El Hamdania, 100 km western Algiers, "which the government decided to build with a long-term Chinese loan of 3.3 billion U.S. dollars."
The minister stressed that the priority is to resort to internal borrowing, saying the government is independent in making economic decisions and will not succumb to the pressure of the International Monetary Fund, which suggested Algeria resorting to foreign debt.
The country's foreign exchange reserves tumbled by half, from 200 billion dollars in 2014 to nearly 100 billion dollars currently.
Following the financial crisis in recent years due to the drop of oil prices, the government decided to resort to unconventional funding, which was included in the plan of action that was approved on Sept. 21 by the parliament.
