EXECUTIVE SUMMARY the implementation by corporations of environmental codes and standards; (iv) establishment of an anticorruption agency, enhancement of the capacities of the observatory and commitment by the members of the Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACI) to consider including clauses prohibiting corruption practices in their partnership contracts; and, more fundamentally, (v) privatisation of the numerous remaining public economic enterprises (EPEs) that still occupy a predominant place in the country‟s economic fabric. 3.4 Socio-economic development 3.47 Algeria is undergoing profound changes. After a decade of violence in the 1990s, which left more than 100 000 people dead, millions orphaned, tens of thousands widowed and disabled, the country has recovered and initiated an extensive programme of political, social and economic structural reforms. Its achievements in socio-economic development are cogent indicators of the government‟s desire to transform the life of Algerian citizens. The human development indices contained in the document amply demonstrate this and represent social achievements that place Algeria on the path to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 3.48 Because of its oil resources, the country has a certain degree of autonomy in the choice, elaboration and execution of its development programmes. Nevertheless, promoting co-responsibility by involving other partners and actors in socio-economic development (i.e. business and other members of civil society), would generally serve to increase ownership in those extremely strategic areas. 3.49 Algeria has made enormous progress in the social arena. As a result of its social policies and the oil boom, the country has radically improved public sector delivery of basic social services and built vast systems of health, education and social protection. Being mostly rural (70 per cent), the population before independence had only limited access to education, health and employment and its level of income was proportional to the low level of general economic activity. Under the pressure of increasing social demands, the development policy over the past three decades of post-independence has been aimed precisely at creating better conditions for the disadvantaged. 3.50 Extensively supported by the state, the prices of principal consumer goods have been progressively liberalised. This was the case for fruit and other products in 1989 and 1992. The removal of subsidies led to a significant hike in the prices of consumer goods, which affected all goods and especially major consumer goods. These increases adversely affected the purchasing power of households, thus swelling the ranks of the poor, especially in terms of food insecurity (based on the required nutritional level in terms of calorific intake) and, consequently, of general poverty. It is appropriate to note that extreme poverty, as described by international organisations in the context of the MDGs (less than US$1 a day), is marginal and is disappearing in Algeria, which is an achievement to be applauded. 17