Algeria Banking: “Check And Written Means Instead Of Bag Of Money, Starting From January 2023”

Starting from the next January 1st 2023, the government will resort to imposing the mandatory check and written means instead of money “pieces and papers” in some areas, as a new mechanism that falls within the framework of efforts to achieve financial and fiscal inclusion, with the aim of restoring dormant funds in the informal market, estimated at $90 billion, and reducing securities risks notably counterfeit finance and the withdrawal of worn-out money from the market.
In accordance with what is included in the Finance Bill of 2023, which is on the Parliament’s table today, and in the aspect related to financial and fiscal inclusion, it is assumed that the obligatory payment by means of written payment through bank channels will be effective, by setting a ceiling of one million dinars .
This measure aims to enhance financial and tax inclusion, allow reducing the risks of using counterfeit banknotes, absorb obsolete securities, and give guarantees in terms of the traceability of financial flows, which will contribute to greater control over the tax base, and strengthen the fiscal administration’s efforts in the fight against Money Laundering.
The law also includes exempting the import of bank cards and their accessories from rights and fees, in order to reduce the cost of these cards, generalize their use and protect the national economy.
Experts stress the necessity and importance of using the instrument or electronic cards for all financial transactions that exceed 100 million centimes, and they see it as the best solution to avoid the growth of the informal market, which today, according to a previous statement by the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, contains $90 billion.
In a statement to ”Echorouk”, economic expert, Slimane Nasser, believes that the authorities are compelled today to move towards obligating the check and electronic cards instead of coins and banknotes in transactions, and to seek the success of the implementation of the decision and not make it a mere failed experiment, like the attempts that were made in the era of the previous regime notably during the years 2005, 2010 and 2015, when normal cash transactions were capped at one million dinars and 4 million dinars for real estate transactions, but they did not see their way to embodiment.
Slimane Nasser stresses that the solution to absorbing black market funds is to impose dealing with bank and electronic cards, give guarantees to their users to restore their confidence, and improve banking services, noting that the authorities are now forced to provide multilateral electronic payment devices and encourage citizens to gradually use electronic payment in some sectors.
With it being circulated to all transactions later, he called for not postponing the mandatory electronic payment, which has been set for December 31, 2023, to a later date.
For his part, economic expert, Kamel Dib, believes that the adoption of written means instead of money (cash) in financial transactions has become more than a necessity to contain the money of the black market, but this will not succeed, according to him, unless the reliability and quality of banking services in Algeria is improved, by expanding the spread of Banking agencies, facilitating electronic card transactions and securing these transactions more, not only in the banking aspect, but in all aspects, and modernizing the banking culture.
The speaker affirms that one of the positive aspects of the decision to adopt written means instead of money (cash) is that the state provides real and realistic data, numbers and statistics about the financial mass in banks and homes, and contributes to instilling an economic culture in society and achieving better financial and tax inclusion.