Finance Minister: “Our encounter with IMF doesn’t imply a return by Algeria to external borrowing”

There would be no complementary finance act in 2016, said Tuesday in Algiers Minister of Finance Hadji Baba Ammi, adding that the finance bill 2017, which is being drafted, will mark the beginning of adapting expenditures to the country’s financial resources.

“There will be no complementary finance act this year. We have the finance bill 2017, which will be submitted within legal deadlines. There will be no complementary finance act 2016,” he emphasized in a statement to the press on the sidelines of the presentation of the bill on 2013 budget regulation to the members of the Council of the Nation (Upper House of Parliament).

“The Finance Act 2017 will bring a medium-term vision and will mark the beginning of adapting expenditures to the country’s financial resources,” explained the finance minister.

“We will not make an abrupt change in the level of expenditures of past years, but we will tally them gradually to our financial resources,” he affirmed.

This law introduces new provisions to improve the tax collection level after the facilities granted under the Finance Act 2012, which will stop a new timetable for the tax recovery and clearing late penalties,” he said.

In response to a question about a link between the visit of a delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Algeria and a return of Algeria to the external debt, Mr Hadi Baba Ammi has opposed a categorical denial, stating that the IMF officials’ visit had been scheduled for a long time and it has no connection to any external debt.

Regarding the bond issue launched last April, the Minister described as “very encouraging” the amounts garnered to date, adding that the final results will be announced in the month of November, which marks the transaction’s closing date.

Moreover, the finance minister further asserted that the issue of money exchange offices was still under consideration stressing that the Bank of Algeria is currently examining the modalities of opening these offices any time soon.