Algeria:unemployed people to receive monthly pay

Algeria's president says the government will introduce unemployment benefits for young adults as the country struggles with high rates of joblessness. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune told journalists that the payments to jobseekers aged 19 to 40 would begin in March. Those who are eligible will be able to collect the payments of about $100 a month, as well as some medical benefits, until they find work. Making the announcement, Tebboune said that Algeria was the first country outside Europe to introduce such a benefit. He added that there were now more than 600,000 unemployed in Algeria.

The payments will be made "to preserve the dignity of young people", Tebboune said. It will be accompanied by medical benefits, while some taxes on consumer products will also be suspended, Tebboune said. Tebboune said the youth payments were part of the 2022 budget. In November, lawmakers voted to scrap generous state subsidies on basic goods that had long helped maintain social peace, but that had strained state budgets as energy revenues fell. Algeria, Africa's biggest gas exporter with around 45 million people, earns some 90 percent of its state revenues from hydrocarbons.