Algerian MPs reproach Governor Laksaci with failing to preclude Orascom from “plundering” public finances
Members of the National Popular Assembly lashed at the lack of control by the surveillance cell of the Bank of Algeria under the supervision of Governor Mohamed Laksaci regarding the huge money transfers overseas carried out of late by several foreign and private companies operating in Algeria.
- Several deputies pointed to this effect to the glaring case of the Orascom company saying that the latter had recently succeeded in transferring from Algeria to Spain over 900 million dollars without the prior regulatory go-ahead from the Bank of Algeria.
- They argued that this dubious money transfer overseas made by Orascom company was tantamount to a dilapidation of Algeria’s public finances and should have been averted by the relevant banking monitoring services.
- Taking the floor before the deputies, Governor Laksaci said Algeria remains inextricably linked to gas and oil exports, but in the last year, the extra-hydrocarbon economy of the country has been marked by ”significant growth”.
- This is according to comments made Wednesday in Algiers by Mohamed Laksaci, the governor of Algeria’s central bank, who was presenting to Parliament the annual report on the country’s financial situation.
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Despite the recession, which has affected the hydrocarbon sector in the last four years, Laksaci was quoted as saying, ”growth recorded in 2008 also remained constant in 2009, with a growth of 2.4% of GDP, estimated at 10017.5 billion dinars (over 98 billion euros).
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The economy has remained stable, the report says, thanks to the vitality of other sectors such as agriculture, construction and the tertiary sector. Extra-hydrocarbon departments recorded a 9.3% increase in GDP, the best result in the last ten years. Top of the class was the agricultural sector, which recorded 20% growth, followed by services (+8.8%) and construction (+8.7%).
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However, the governor underlined that these excellent figures ”are the result of the programme of public investments, while the national economy continues to depend on energy resources and imports”.
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Laksaci believes that ”the cautious policy and the rigid economic measures adopted by the government” have spared Algeria from the global financial crisis. Even the banking system has not been ”directly influenced by the crisis,” he added.
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Exchange reserves in the country surpassed 147 billion dollars, while foreign debt reached 3.92 billion dollars, level with 2.8% of GDP. The rate of inflation is at its highest point in the last decade, reaching 5.7%.
- The commercial surplus dropped in 2009 to 0.41 billion dollars from 34.45 billion in 2008. This drop is essentially due to the collapse of the price of crude oil on the international market, with hydrocarbon exports dropping to 44.41 billion dollars, a 42.46% fall on 2008.