Ahmed Ouyahia, the secretary general of the Rassemblement National Démocratique (RND), came as near as he possibly could to saying that the government was on the brink of a decision to take on external debt, in his 15 December address to the party’s national council.

Ouyahia has always strongly opposed resorting to foreign debt as a means of helping the country out of its current economic and financial crisis. However, in his party address, he admitted that the previous decision not to resort to external borrowing “would be revised in the coming days”. He told the audience: “The ban [on external debt] is still in effect, but there may be exceptions in the next few days.”

Ouyahia gave no hints as to what these exceptions might be, or when they might be announced.

As we went to press on 22 December, the long-awaited ministerial reshuffle was expected within days but has not happened yet. Having already held the post twice, Ouyahia has long been tipped to take over again as prime minister from Abdelmalek Sellal. There is, however, still strong speculation that the disgraced former energy minister Chakib Khelil might be brought in as premier. One of our local sources said that the presidency sees Khelil as a man with the skills to manage difficult economic situations. Those who still see him as one of the country’s top fraudsters would certainly have no disagreement with that assessment.

This article was taken from Menas Associates’ monthly publication, Algeria Focus.