6 million Algerians “hoard” their money in their homes!

The number of owners of bank accounts in Algeria, according to figures issued by the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions, now stands at 16 million bank accounts.

It must be noted that this figure prominently rose in a matter of three years, through the easing of registration procedures, with the banks requiring just a copy of the applicant’s identity card and his or her residence certificate to proceed to the opening of new bank account.

Furthermore, according to recent figures, around 18 million Algerians now possess a postal account meaning that 34 million Algerians have deposited their money in the banks and postal offices, while six million others, out of a total of a 40 million population, don’t either have a postal or a bank account preferring to hoard their money in their homes.

The Chairman of the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions, Boualem Djebbar, told “Echorouk”, that the number of owners of bank accounts in Algeria which reached 16 million accounts in recent days had risen over the last three years following the government’s injunction to the banks to facilitate the opening of new banks accounts for the benefit of citizens by drastically curtailing the red-tape to this effect. 

Concurrently, Mr Djebbar also indicated that the number of postal accounts had hiked to around 18 million over the past three years as it stood at 15 million postal accounts owned by citizens from all walks of life in 2013 and this hike, he said, had come about after the enforcement by the relevant authorities of the facilitation procedures in the postal and banking sectors across the national territory.