Foreign Currency Exchange Black Market Defeats Government

Foreign currency exchange black market in Algiers Port Said Square noticed in the recent days, exhibition decisions to raise the profit that is equivalent currently to more than 55% of the real value of the currency margin.

Dollar currency reached excessive and unbelievable levels, that have never been recorded before, by reaching up to 1,700 ZDZ per $100, at the time, Finance Minister Abderrahmane Ben Khalfa prefers to throw the ball for the Algeria Bank Governor, Mohamed Laksaci, who kept  playing the role of a spectator amid a sharp and historic collapse of the Algerian dinar.

Comparison the numbers that Echorouk obtained from Algiers Square market of hard currency, and numbers the Algeria Bank on Friday, the official rate of the euro stood at 18,000 ZDZ to 19,000 ZDZ at Algiers Square Port, while the US dollar exceeded all the red lines to reach 17,000 ZDZ in the parallel market, compared with 16,000 ZDZ in the Bank of Algeria, and even the British Pound noticed an excessive increases, which represents a large profit for the black market traders, where it reached 24,000 ZDZ in Algiers square compared with 15,100 ZDZ in the Bank of Algeria, which raises a number of questions about the fate of the national currency, which is moving from bad to worse.

Experts and specialists expect that the situation is getting worse in the next stage, given the increased demand for hard currency after the issuance of import licenses officially and distributing them to importers, and it comes to agricultural and food products that are listed under the former agreement “Alvivo” with the European Union, which will be issued later this month or at the beginning of March, while the licenses to import cars, cement and steel will also be ready within weeks, not to mention the approach of summer and the Hajj season, and which preparation will start by next March.

In front of all these uncomfortable indicators, the price of oil returned on Friday to witness a new decline reaching $ 33 a barrel, after it reached $ 35 on Thursday, while the parallel market traders dramatically exploit the decline of oil price and the worse situation of the national economy, and the foreign currency price increased in the parallel market, knowing that the profit margin is equivalent to 55%, which is a very high percentage that was expected not to exceed 20% in the case of opening exchange offices.