Algeria's Tebboune Announces Youth Unemployment Benefit

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Reuters
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Reuters
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Algeria's Tebboune Announces Youth Unemployment Benefit

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Reuters
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Reuters

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said Tuesday that the government would introduce youth unemployment benefits as the country struggles with a jobless rate of almost 15 percent.

The payments will be made "to preserve the dignity of young people", Tebboune said in an interview broadcast on Algerian television.

The allowance of 13,000 dinars ($92) -- equivalent to nearly two-thirds the minimum wage of 20,000 dinars ($142) -- will begin in March, AFP reported.

It will be accompanied by medical benefits, while some taxes on consumer products will also be suspended, Tebboune said.

Algeria, Africa's biggest gas exporter with around 45 million people, earns some 90 percent of its state revenues from hydrocarbons.

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.



BP Warns of 4th Quarter Profit Hit as Production and Refining Margins Fall

Logo of British Petrol BP is seen at a petrol station in Pienkow, Poland, June 8, 2022. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo
Logo of British Petrol BP is seen at a petrol station in Pienkow, Poland, June 8, 2022. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo
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BP Warns of 4th Quarter Profit Hit as Production and Refining Margins Fall

Logo of British Petrol BP is seen at a petrol station in Pienkow, Poland, June 8, 2022. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo
Logo of British Petrol BP is seen at a petrol station in Pienkow, Poland, June 8, 2022. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

BP warned on Tuesday that lower production, weak refining margins and sluggish trading would see its profit in the fourth quarter of 2024 fall from the previous three months.
Since taking the helm a year ago, CEO Murray Auchincloss has scaled back the firm's energy transition strategy in an effort to boost profits and regain investor confidence as BP's share lags behind its competitors, Reuters reported.
A capital markets event previously scheduled for Feb. 11 in New York will instead take place on Feb. 26 in London, BP said, as Auchincloss is recovering from a planned medical procedure.
BP said the drop in refining margins and a higher impact from turnaround and maintenance activity would result in a quarter-on-quarter drop in profit of up to $300 million, while realizations in its oil production and operations unit could lead to a further reduction of $200 million to $400 million. It also expects a drop in upstream production.
The company's third quarter underlying replacement cost profit, the company's definition of net income, was $2.27 billion, already the weakest since the fourth quarter of 2020, when profits collapsed during the pandemic.
Global demand for gasoline and diesel has fallen short of expectations, while the launch of new oil refineries in Asia and Africa has resulted in oversupply.
Last week, Shell warned of weakness across multiple divisions, while Exxon Mobil signaled a $1.75 billion drop in fourth-quarter earnings.
BP, which will release fourth quarter results on Feb. 11, expects its net debt at end-December to have fallen from the end of the previous quarter. Exploration write-offs are seen falling by $100 million to $200 million.