Algeria loses 100 billion centimes (DA) annually because of fuel smuggling

The Algerian Energy and Mines Minister, Youcef Yousfi, has affirmed that 1.5 billion liters of Algerian fuel are diverted annually towards other countries stressing that fuel smuggling has taken alarming proportions.

In a statement to the press in the south-eastern city of El Oued, Mr Yousfi asserted that 1.5 billion liters of fuel were leaving Algeria in an illegal manner representing approximately 1 billion dinars.

The Minister explained that about 600.000 vehicles were moving about outside the borders of the country with this huge quantity of smuggled fuel.

He blasted the fuel contraband as a “gangrene” gnawing at the national economy, stressing that this illegal activity should be firmly fought and stamped out as early as possible.

The Energy and Mines Minister further indicated that the government had taken a set of stringent measures in conjunction with the local authorities of the provinces concerned to eradicate this nefarious phenomenon.

For his part, the Minister of the Interior and Local Assemblies, Dahou Ould Kablia, said earlier this week in Algiers that almost 25% of the national fuel production was being “squandered and exported illegally” towards neighbouring countries through shadowy smuggling networks .

He said that the Algerian authorities were determined to smash these smuggling networks through the mobilization of all and sundry.