Algeria: Black List Of Businessmen Who “Swing” On Banks

Banks have begun to scrutinize the loans received by the major business leaders in Algeria as well as the loan’s interest coverage ratio, after some of them have proven to have grabbed large amounts of money, as the repayment rate of these loans ranges from 10 to 20 per cent, while the youth of ANSEJ and the new contractors cover around 80 percent of their loans … and this raises many outstanding questions.

Sources from the financial sector told “Echorouk” that the investigations currently included 20 businessmen, one of whom benefited from bank loans worth more than half a billion dollars, to achieve an investment project, but the latter proved to have consumed only $ 20 million of that sum. 

Henceforth, the latter’s book of specifications, which is currently under review, raised the keen attention of the Government which has decided to tighten the terms of financing investments for the benefit of private businessmen.

Investigations also included one of the major complexes that were gearing up for an important investment operation, under a significant bank loan that raised many lingering doubts. 

Banks received stringent instructions to be cautious in the process of granting loans, while the same sources reported that these investigations and notices of delays of projects are not aimed at businessmen or names, but on the basis of firm instructions by the President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika himself after it has been established that a number of major projects were being frozen by their private recipients for murky reasons and didn’t comply with the set deadlines and with the due repayment of the various hefty bank loans.

The Prime Minister, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, met with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika over the last 24 hours, and gave him all the explanations about the contents of the Government’s action program and its public policy that were expounded by the Premier recently before the two houses of parliament. 

PM Tebboune secured to this effect the President’s personal approval and his blessing for all axes of the Government’s ongoing policy drive as part of its approved action-plan.

This comes at a time when businessmen from the forum of heads of enterprises “FCE” received “official” indications that the current purge campaign waged by the higher authorities is not targeting the “FCE” as an organization.

The Government stated in this connection that it will support businessmen as partners so as to develop the national economy and confront the oil crisis, but in return it will firmly impose the force of law and the principle of equal opportunities.