Banks and Ports Gripped By Emergency Owing To List Of “Prohibitions Of Import”

The Chairman of the Algerian Association for Export Consultancy Mr. Smail Lalmas called on the Ministry of Trade to arrange an emergency meeting to determine the list of goods and materials related to import licenses starting from early January 2018, stressing that both banks and economic operators are in a state of confusion because of the lack of clarity on the list of products and materials prohibited from import.

 He affirmed to this effect that this murky situation has caused the rush of a number of importers to import large quantities of materials that may be included in the list of relevant licenses.

The head of the Export Consultancy Association told “Echorouk” that the importers declared the emergency month before the end of 2017, and are quick to settle the items that may be included in the list of prohibitions of import only with the release of a license as from next January, while banks and economic operators have so far been living in a state of murkiness because of the lack of clarifications about the foreign trade laws and the regulation of imports till the present time.

The controversy is mainly about the imported cosmetics products that are expected to be listed on the prohibition roster as well as imported mobile phones and household appliances equipment, while the controversy ended for imported vehicles, as Algerians will only have to purchase cars built in Algeria itself, currently produced by four car-assembling factories in the country.

Mr. Lalmas added that many importers are rushing to flood the national market with products that are suspected of being included in the prohibition list, before the changing of the relevant laws, especially bananas, since after dropping from the list of prohibited items from import, a license was eventually granted to only four banana traders in the country.

He also stated that the Government today is compelled to seal the file pertaining to the smooth organization of foreign trade and to bring together all parties at issue with clear-cut regulations in order to remove all lingering ambiguity surrounding the issue.