The controversy is growing in Algiers following President Abdelmadjid Tebboune's statement that the state had provided him with 'erroneous figures' and 'non-factual information'. This criticism has been echoed by Louisa Hanoune and MP Abdelouahab Yagoubi, who see it as confirmation of a deep dysfunction in the production of public data in Algeria.
While this statement aims to call for rigor, it also raises a paradox: Tebboune himself has repeatedly presented spectacular figures deemed inaccurate, imprecise, or greatly exaggerated.
A 'loot' of corruption estimated at $22 billion
In 2023, Tebboune stated that authorities had recovered$22 billion in embezzled assetsfrom the former regime, citing a joint report from the ministries of Justice and Finance.
No detailed report has been published, no breakdown of amounts has been provided, and no independent source has been able to confirm this colossal recovery. Algerian economists had labeled this estimate as 'politically useful but methodologically untenable.'
The impossible figure of desalination
Before the UN, Tebboune asserted that Algeria would increase its desalination capacity from700 million to 1.7 billion m³per day..
However, public data show that all 11 plants in the country produceless than 700 million m³ per year, a volume that is incomparable to the announced value. The figure, technically and logistically impossible, prompted reactions from several hydraulic engineers.
A revision of GDP that raises questions
The president also mentioned an economic trajectory aiming for a GDP approaching$400 billionby 2027, citing the integration of the informal economy.
Economists remind us that these projections rely on difficult-to-verify coefficients and that the figure does not align with IMF forecasts nor available official data.
The admission of an opaque system
Tebboune's recent denunciation of 'false figures' thus appears to confirm a structural problem: administrative opacity, lack of independent statistical institutes, political communications based on unpublished data, and a political use of figures that has become a central element of state communication.
Yet the contradiction between this call for precision and the contested statements of the president undermines the official discourse. Several analysts view it as a strategy to attribute internal inconsistencies to 'services' or administrations, rather than to the head of state.
A Crisis of Credibility
In a country where trust in institutions is already fragile, the repeated use of spectacular yet unverifiable figures risks widening the gap between official discourse and socio-economic reality.
For many observers, the government will only be able to restore this trust by publishing the mentioned reports, documenting the methods used, and allowing for independent verification.
