Algerian Govt Bans The Import Of Luxury Items

The Professional Association of Banks ordered the officials of banks to stop the bank localization of many products during September through several instructions, the latest of which was issued two days ago, related to banning the import of “baseball bats”, in addition to the instructions related to banning the import of yoghurt, canning and some types of meat products, and those related to the import of clothes through the “sack”, in a quick step to reduce the import bill by more than $10 billion by the end of the year.

According to what was included in an instruction, which copy was received by Echorouk, from the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions, with the number 804 on September 23, on the recommendation of the Finance Ministry’s General Secretary, following a previous correspondence from the Minister of Commerce, it was decided to prevent the bank settlement of the baseball bats, which represents the customs tariff No. 95, following what was previously ordered by the Prime Minister, according to the same instruction.

Sources from the banking sector confirm that dozens of goods prohibited from bank localization are studied and sifted each time by the ministries, directed to the professional association of banks, which issues each time a new instruction for the inclusion of new goods prohibited from localization, intending to support the local product, reduce the import bill, and eliminating the luxury imports which do not contribute to meeting citizens’ demands as much as they play a negative role in increasing the trade balance deficit.

The Prime Minister previously stated, in his response to the members of the National Assembly after discussing the government’s work plan last week, that despite the Covid-19 crisis and its economic foreboding, the Algerian state did not print money and did not go to external borrowing, as some talked about, and it will not do so, but rather chose to organize imports, controlling expenditures and avoiding extravagance.

Ben Abderrahman said that the import bill in 2014 was equivalent to $64 billion, but this year it will reach $30.4 billion, which proves the control over the mechanisms of building a viable national economy.