Eight products Banned From Import Except Through A License In 2017

The Minister of Industry and Mines, Abdeslem Bouchouareb, revealed a list of eight items banned from import only through a license during the year 2017 namely cement, automobiles and iron in addition to cables, rubber and pottery, but without revealing the rest of the content of the relevant list.

The minister also pointed to 10 factories of mechanics now existing in Algeria, including five for cars and others for tractors, motorcycles and trucks, while describing the national mechanical industry as buoyant and as likely to help the country get out of the current oil crunch.

Taking the floor on Monday during the 20th tripartite meeting bringing together the Government, the Employers’ Federation and the UGTA Trade Union in the city of Annaba (eastern Algeria), Mr Bouchouareb said that the remedial actions taken at the beginning of 2013 to help upgrade the national economy, notably in the industrial sector, have now started to bear fruit with positive spin-offs being recorded.

He stated, in this connection, that five laws related to improving the investment business climate, had allowed the sector to steadily forge ahead, stressing that despite the woeful financial crisis, the Algerian authorities have achieved significant growth in the rate of economic progress, citing the example of the tax on profits (IPS) levied from enterprises, which rose in 2016, to 24 percent.

 Mr Bouchouareb further indicated that the national cement production for instance will reach 20 million tons this year after the entry into service of new units, adding that the  Government is set to proceed with the export of such basic material overseas as well as for iron, with the national production forecast to reach over  8 million tons in 2018, of which 3 million tons will be produced at Annaba’s El Hadjar steel and metallurgy complex itself.