Billions out of stock market to cover tax avoidance in Algeria

It is an open secret that Algeria is the only Arab country where a black market for hard currency exists outdoor and publicly. Young men stand up in the so-called ‘square’ situated next to the National Theatre to exchange hard currencies in front of the Central Bank and the National Assembly.

• The ‘square’ is the stock market where exchange rate is determined and currency traders are doing business. In each area in Algiers, traders do their job in their shops known for everyone.
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• No one can predict the gains of this market. People working in it can win and can loose depending on currency prices in banks and world markets.
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• “This job is risky and adventurous because people are not under any law and do not have commercial registers,” says an owner of a hard currency shop in Algiers.
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• “Business here is done on trust basis. We deal with people we know,” he told Echorouk.
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• He hopes that the government sets up accredited offices and open commercial registers for them. “Now, Algeria needs this activity more than ever especially with the economic opening.”
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• He believes that banks can not meet all the market needs. “This happens for example in pilgrimage seasons or when someone has to go abroad for treatment or for studies.”
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• Witnesses say capital owners have control on the way money enters the market. It is not necessary that the money owners are the real traders. They can go to people they know and give them the money after agreeing on profits. They can also make a deal with hard currency ban account holders.
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• Welcome in Square Stock Market
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• Square hard currency trading market is a real stock market outdoors where there is an accurate bulletin of currency prices with the latest news about exchange rate. The price is negotiated between the sellers and the client. Some people can be recommended by the market leaders.
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• Abderrezak Bogua is one of the market leaders. He goes there to check on his ‘workers’. They are five young men who run his money there. “He does not show up only if there are deals with importers as huge sums are in question,” said one of them.
• “Usually, the market leading traders deal with importers especially from China. They do not declare the real price of their goods to evade taxes,” he added.
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• Some of the clients in this market are senior executives in public and official institutions along with traders and importers.
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• Most of the currency traders in the Square have nicknames to show their important place and affluence in the market. Usually, they are used as passwords in the market.
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• The ‘Square Empire’ extended in Algiers throughout secret shops and with no official documents. That causes billion losses undergone by the national economy in the largest black market of hard currency in Algeria.