Algeria: New Materials Prohibited From Import Without A License

The Minister of Trade, Mr. Mohamed Benmeradi, revealed the inclusion of new materials in the list of products subjected to import licenses, starting from the beginning of January 2018, but without pinpointing these materials to avert excessive imports during the remaining months of the year, while confirming that the country’s import bill won’t exceed 40 billion dollars during the current year compared to $ 47 billion last year.

The minister who was the guest yesterday of the national third radio channel, assured that the licenses will not include the materials needed by the national production, stressing that a working group is currently striving to control the list, and confirmed that until the end of August, the import bill was reduced by 7 billion while noting that the country’s trade deficit was set at $ 10 billion, compared to $ 17.5 billion last year.

Regarding the current high prices of bananas on the national market, the trade minister stated that the latter will return to normal in the coming weeks, as the rest of the quota, has been distributed at the rate of only 40 percent until now, adding that bananas may not be included in the list of import licenses next year.