Government Erases Traces Of Sellal, Buchouareb From Industry Sector

In a new and surprising decision that will be added to the roofing the amount authorized by the government to import spare parts for the installation of cars in a way that will not exceed two billion dollars a year starting from next January, the Industry Ministry decided to abandon the activity of factories and installation units of smartphones, which is subject to the same principle for the rules governing the car assembly plants, in a move that confirms that the only concern of the government is to seek financial resources through raising tax revenues even if it is at the expense of the investment climate and economic reputation of the country.

The Ministry of Industry and Mines has approved a new procedure to abandon the activity of factories and installation units of smartphones in Algeria, where the government intends to suspend the import of parts and structures of “SKD” for mobile phones, which are part of the installation activity, which attracted a number of international brands in return for the commitment to raise the rates of integration gradually in accordance with the book of conditions that is governing the activity, which is largely consistent with the book of conditions for cars.

According to Echorouk sources, the executive apparatus seeks to freeze the installation of mobile phones to improve customs revenues, even though the Ministry of Industry justified its decision not to achieve the activity that did not exceed the fourth year of its desired results, nor did it add value to the activity, in return for the treasury losses due to the privileges and incentives that were approved by the government for the benefit of dealers in the field within the stimulation of the national product.

The government’s decision to stop importing smartphone parts comes at a time when the units may stop activity due to the lack of customization of the structures and parts of the devices despite their presence in ports.

The sector is also expected to undergo new measures from the beginning of next January in the part concerning the import of smartphones through being subject to DD customs rights by 30%, coupled with the temporary surcharge of 60%, and surely the rights and fees that are included in the cost of the product, which would make the prices of imported smartphones rise to 90 %, after the phone parts were subject to customs duties at only 5%.

The new data will have repercussions on the mobile market, and would revive the parallel market, as it would cause significant losses to dealers in the field of installation of smartphones, not to mention the losses due to the cessation of activity of factories and units, to add the crisis of companies that are involved in the installation of smartphones to the crisis of automobile installation factories that are unaware of their fate because of the restriction of activity on the one hand due to the roofing of the authorized value of importing parts of the installation and the government’s decision to license the import of used cars less than 3 years from the beginning of January.

The executive branch, which announced its departure from unconventional funding two months ago, has returned to keep it coming back, the Finance Minister Mohamed Loukal said during a discussion of the draft law on finance at the National People’s Assembly, which was in complete contradiction to the statements of the Interior Minister, Salaheddine Dahmoune who announced the decision to abandon the printing of money earlier, and he seems to be in a state of confusion in decision-making.

The government, which has found itself between two solutions, has been trying to get rid of the legacy of the governments of the outgoing president because of the cost of installation and its impact on the public treasury. Instead of a policy of tax exemptions, the government of Badoui seeks to compensate for the loss of the collapsing oil prices with customs revenues.