Algeria: 35 Thousand Enterprises Are Still Expecting Their Dues Worth $ 2 Billion

The head of the Algerian Association of Algerian Contractors, Mr. Mouloud Kheloufi, said that about 35 thousand contractors operating in the national building sector, public works, irrigation and handling companies, have not yet received any centimes of their pending dues, despite the recent Government’s decision to inject more than 60 billion dinars in order to settle the entitlements of the sector.

In a telephone statement to “Echorouk”, Mr. Mouloud Kheloufi said that 35,000 companies from the construction sector are still waiting to settle their outstanding dues, pointing out that until yesterday, no centime has entered into the accounts of the institutions concerned, thus further worsening their financial position and seriously complicating their already-eroded relationship with their unpaid workers.

According to Mr. Kheloufi, thousands of institutions did not find a way to pay their workers with the advent of the holy month of fasting of Ramadan, explaining that the first week of Ramadan was a disastrous week for these institutions, especially that the unpaid dues are estimated at about 200 billion dinars or the equivalent of around 2 billion dollars.

Mr. Mouloud Kheloufi said that the relevant enterprises are expecting next Sunday for a start of the settlement of the pending dues from the authorities concerned, otherwise, he stressed, he’ll be  compelled to send a letter to the President of the Republic explaining the ins and outs of the tragic financial situation now besetting these cash-strapped companies.