Expert: if Algerians pay their 38,000 billion, poverty will be eliminated

If Algerians pay their zakat estimated at $5 billion, poverty and unemployment will disappear in the country, according to an international expert in Islamic economics.

“The State should control zakat and rely on mosques for its collection as it is the only institution trusted by Algerians,” Professor Fares Mesdour told Echorouk.

“Figures show that zakat fund incomes reached 89 billion centimes in 2011 compared to 100 billion centimes in 2010. That money funded a large number of micro-projects and helped hundreds of needy families. Twenty five percent of zakat money was allocated to the Gaza Strip,” he added.

Those results came eight years after the creation of zakat fund. The religious affairs ministry described them as “good” though they are still very limited and need reactivation by reinforcing Algerians’ trust in this fund.

The expert believes that mosques are the only institutions which convince Algerians to pay their zakat to the fund.

“The fund’s aim is to eliminating poverty and unemployment and reactivating cooperation concepts among people,” Pr. Mesdour said.

He added that the mosque where he operates raised more than 500 million centimes. “Mosques in Blida province (west of Algiers) collected 2.5 billion centimes.”

A study conducted by the expert showed that Algeria counts more than 10,000 billionaires who do not pay zakat as set by religion. They give small sums to the poor once a year. There are also 100,000 importers in the country. “If they paid their zakat in the right way, they would have funded thousands of projects and saved hundreds from unemployment,” he said.

“Algeria has 400,000 small and middle sized enterprises. If each enterprise pays its zakat, we will have collected more than 1,000 billion centimes,” he added.

According to the expert, some sheep keepers in Algeria have more than 1,000 sheep. “If wholesalers and senior executives along with sheep keepers pay their zakat, we will collect more than $5 billion and we will offer 300,000 new jobs per year.”

The professor said he was sorry for the religious affairs minister’s announcement that the zakat fund would be turned into a national association. “This is a horrible crime against zakat. This idea attempts to transfer zakat money to an unknown destination. That would hit zakat project in Algeria. This association includes suspicious persons.”

“I am surprised why the minister banned the fund zakat while the Algerian experience in this field was copied from many European and Arab countries in different continents in the world.”