Echorouk’s Forum sheds light on the specifics of the global financial crisis

The weekly Echorouk’s Forum, which brought together at the newspaper premises in upper Algiers a panel of seasoned financial experts and economists, mainly focused on the current world financial turmoil and its adverse affects, if any, on the Algerian economy.

•  Economist Abdelkader Beltas dwelt on the ins and outs of the global financial crisis, which he said, had been sparked off by the sprawling “subprime issue” in the United States.
• He said that the issue had turned into an acute crisis as a result of serious drifts from the fundamentals which govern the banking mechanisms in the US.
• The warped subprime equation, he said, suddenly turned into a nightmare for myriads of US Banks which incurred by the same token, billions of dollars of losses. Some of them are now even haunted by the spectre of bankruptcy.
• The crisis reached a gigantic scope across the Atlantic and affected European and even Asian Banks and national financial bodies, prompting the US and European governments to intervene swiftly by adopting emergency rescue measures as evidenced by the US 700 billion worth bail-out plan adopted this week  by the US congress.
• The panellists agreed to say that Algeria was for the moment immune from the deleterious impact of such a biting crisis because her financial bodies, including Banks, are strictly regulated despite the fact that the backlash from the US subprime turmoil could hit many countries across the world.
• The “laissez-faire policy” and the lack of control by the Federal Government has taken its toll, he pointed out.
• For his part, economist Abderrahmane Benkhelfa affirmed that Algeria’s wise decision to reimburse the largest part of her external debt, had spared the country a real financial disaster.
•  In so doing, Algeria has succeeded in sparing herself a devastating financial turmoil, he stressed.
• He also emphasized that Algeria would become in the near future a stable and promising market on both the regional and international scenes, owing to her vast and multifarious natural resources.
•  Among other preventive measures, the economic experts attending, advocated the deepening of the ongoing overhaul of the Algerian financial system initiated by the government in addition to the promotion of a continuous process of sweeping economic reforms coupled with the adoption of an overture policy in the country’s relations with the outside world.