Algerians pay only 900 million dinars out of a total of 3 billion dinars from Zakat funds

A Professor at Blida University and international expert in economics as well as an overseer of the Zakat fund in Algeria, Mr Fares Mesdour, has announced that he has tabled before the two houses of parliament a new draft containing 78 articles aimed at turning the Zakat practice as binding and compulsory for all eligible Algerian nationals through the direct injunction of the President of the Republic himself, by quoting the relevant Coranic verses to this effect.

This project comes in the wake of Parliament’s decision to reject the legalization of the wealth tax.

Mr Mesdour told Echorouk that the long-neglected poor and needy sections of the Algerian population should not be left in the lurch and should benefit directly from the enormous Zakat funds.

Our interlocutor added that the proposed parliamentary project was designed to collect about 30 thousand billion centimes (DA) annually with the prime objective of eliminating completely the scourge of poverty in Algeria within a 3 year period.

He explained that this commendable objective could be achieved through the creation of viable investment projects for young people and proper incentive measures to assist poor Algerian families have a strong foothold into the production world.

This projected well-meaning endeavour, if it is crowned with success, will also help stamp out the all-pervasive money laundering phenomenon by compelling all Algerian citizens to declare before a legal body their wealth and property without any prevarication, Mr Mesdour added.