Algeria: Only Fifty Thousand Vehicles Set To Be Imported During 2017

The import quota of vehicles in 2017 is expected to range between 40,000 and 50,000 units, announced Tuesday in Algiers the Minister of Housing, the City and Town Planning and Acting Trade Minister Abdelmajid Tebboune.

“It is likely that the number of cars imported during the year 2017 will vary between 40,000 and 50,000 cars,” the Minister told reporters on the sidelines of a working visit of inspection to the new city of Sidi Abdallah.

In addition to Renault’s cars which have been manufactured locally for more than two years now, the year 2017 will witness the coming into production in Algeria of several vehicle assembly plants like those of Hyundai and Volkswagen car-makers.

An upcoming inter-ministerial meeting, to be chaired by Prime Minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, is slated for the next few days to fix the import quotas of those products subjected to import licenses during the 2017 fiscal year including cars, cement, reinforcing bars, marble, tiles, etc….

The import bill of passenger vehicles reached USD1.292 billion in 2016 against USD 2.038 billion in 2015, down by 36.61%, according to the National Customs Services.

As for passenger and freight vehicles (classified as capital goods), their import bill amounted to $ 782.36 million, compared to $ 1.5 billion in 2015, a slump of 48%.

With regard to spare-parts and accessories of motor vehicles (classified as non-food consumer goods like passenger vehicles), their import bill amounted to $ 393.96 million compared to $ 394.86 million in 2015, a slight drop of 0.23%.