Algeria : black market size reaches 10 billion dollars

The size of black market in Algeria is estimated between 9 to 10 billion dollars which constitute sales from over one million workers in the informal market, according to president of Algerian chamber of industry and trade.The black market represents a threat for formal institutions and will hinder foreign investments due to the lack of honesty.

“Yet, I am against the repression of informal market because it employs 15 percent of workers and an important category of Algerians’s livelihood depends on it,” Ibrahim Ben Djaber told Echorouk.

 He suggested integrating those workers in the formal sectors for the good sake of everybody. “For more efficiency, I suggest reducing subscription of companies in social security to less than 36 percent.”

He also proposed to reduce taxes on profits. “Exemption from profit tax and reduction of tax on  capita income  to 10 percent will help in that.”

Arab investments in Algeria exceed $19 billion

President of the Algerian chamber of industry and trade said Arab investments in Algeria reached $19 billion in the current year in terms of industry, banks, assurances, agriculture, water desalination, tourism, petrochemisty and electricity generation.

“Algeria was totally ignored in Arab investors’ map but it caught up the situation thanks to field tours of the Algerian chamber’s delegation in the Arab Gulf,” he added. 

According to him, Arab investments in Algeria have turned to sectors which need intense manpower. “That allows to provide a large number of jobs especially in industry, construction and tourism.”   

Sales tax feeds inflation in Algeria 

Ibrahim Ben Djaber asked for revising some “pseudo-tax” procedures in Algerian institutions. “They feed tax avoidance and some of them are inflation tax like the one imposed on professional activity which is estimated at 2 percent of sales.”

 According to him, the government must take in consideration serious competition between Algerian institutions and the informal market. He added that the continuing tax pressure and the size of the extending informal market can lead to the decline of the legal economic sector. 

Algeria’s presence in European Arab chambers is important

The Algerian chamber’s president stressed the importance of Algeria’s intense presence in the administration board of Arab European chambers of industry and trade.

 “This presence is the natural place to defend Algeria’s economic interests which have been absent for more than 20 years,” he said.He called on the government to speed up the revision of diplomatic delegations’ structure abroad and give more appropriate care for commercial and economic representation abroad.