Algeria may establish stricter Complementary Financial Act

Economists agree on the fact that the Financial Draft Act 2014 has a “political” character. Although it includes price raise for some products, it did not reveal all the details. Experts expect that a new complementary law will be promulgated and will be stricter regarding public money management.

Economics Professor Kamal Si Mohamed criticized the government for oil barrel referential price and dinar value compared to US dollar.

“I wonder on which basis Algeria prepares the Financial Act text. Oil fiscal expectations will be less than what the government waits for. The Treasury will gain less than expected,” he told Echorouk Forum.

The Treasury will gain less than expected 

Si Mohamed said the Financial Commission follows a political vision characterized by conflicts between pro-government and opposition parties. 

He believes that the 2017 budget structure did not change compared to 2016. Ministries budgets were maintained expect the energy and army sectors. 

Algeria to sell the State’s properties to overcome the financial crisis

Economy expert Kamal Dib said the new law will be dominated by businessmen. They call for a ban on the tax on professional activity and reducing taxes on enterprises profit. 

He believes that local governments will lose new incomes if the government meets the businessmen’s request.

He added that the government should seek new sources to refresh the State’s Treasury instead of satisfying rich class requests and imposing indirect taxes on people.

He suggested to sell the State’s properties to private operators.

“The government should do that. For example, if the State sells its 10,000 apartments at university campus to teachers, an important financial liquidity will be paid. A large number of them will be banned from the AADl housing program list,” he said.

He expects that the government will establish a complementary financial law after legislative elections.

He called for reactivating the Court of Audit and raised questions about ways to keep the $100 billion in Algeria’s monetary reserves in 2019 without borrowing money and putting pressure on people.

Pro-government and opposition parties will give the Financial Act a political aspect

Finance Professor Abdelkader Berriche says the Financial Act 2017 will have a political character ahead of the forthcoming legislative elections. The conflict will be stepped up between pro-government and opposition parties.

“It is weird that the government imposes new taxes each time there is an important political event,” he told Echorouk Forum.

He believes that the Financial Act 2017 is a political medium, saying Algeria is the only country which seizes the opportunity of an electoral occasion to impose new taxes on people.

“The draft law text will be linked to political agenda because pro-government and opposition parties will seize this opportunity,” he said.

Speaking about economical aspect, he said the situation is still the same. Oil price is still declining in spite of efforts made to fix it.

The expert believes that the government did not made efforts to find solutions to overcome the financial crisis. 

“The government looked for easy solutions by imposing new taxes on people. This will have social and economic side effects,” he said.