Madar (Nouakchott) - MP Mohamed Bouye Cheikh Mohamed Vadel on Saturday, October 17, 2026, presented a comparison of annual public spending under President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani and under previous regimes, at a press conference of the opposition Forces of Salvation coalition in Nouakchott.
According to the figures he presented, average annual spending was 102 billion over the state's first sixty years, against 1,059 billion a year during the current regime's seven years, which he said amounted to having "multiplied all the regimes tenfold" combined.
Comparing the current regime with each of its predecessors, he said the late President Moktar Ould Daddah spent about 5 billion a year during his 18 years in power, so that a single year of current spending would equal 211 years of his rule, by his calculation.
By the same comparison, one year of current spending would equal 105 years of the military committees between 1978 and 1984, about 21 years of former President Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya's rule, and three years of the decade that preceded the current regime.
The MP said the figures reveal a level of "spending and corruption" that he described as "dangerous for the life of the state and its finances", accusing the authorities of "looting public money".
His presentation was part of the coalition's press conference, its first since MP Mohamed Lemine Sidi Maouloud was elected rotating chair, devoted to debt, public spending and freedoms.
