Over 200 Gold Workshops Face Bankruptcy In Algeria

The gold manufacturers are asking the Finance Minister and Director of Taxation to intervene and save them from the difficult conditions they face during the quarantine period, after they stopped supplying the raw material four months ago, confirming that 200 workshops declared bankruptcy at a time when the craftsmen were purchasing the raw material from the black market after the Manal Group stopped providing them with a large percentage.

The impact of Covid-19 has spread to on gold and jewellery manufacturers of various kinds, after more than three months of quarantine, the gold activity noticed a decrease by 80%, according to the statements of the chairman of the Artisan Club for Jewellery Industry, Boukhari Farhat, who told Echorouk that more than 200 gold manufacturers in the national territory are facing bankruptcy, calling upon the authorities to intervene and save the craft and gold manufacturers from the spectre of bankruptcy due to the decline of activity and the rise of raw material prices.

“Authorities should abolish the tax of 2020 to help gold manufacturers avoid this catastrophic situation”, he added.

“We sent a correspondence to the General Manager of the Department of Revenue and asked him to settle the status of craftsmen and include them among the beneficiaries of the unified tax, which amounts to DZD 10.000 annually”.

“10% of the gold manufacturers are continuing their activity despite the financial crisis, and they are forced to purchase the raw material from the black market despite the loss they incur, which is 30% of gold value in the process of defrosting using the raw material that is acquired from the parallel market due to its poor quality”.

“Among the reasons that complicate the situation of gold manufacturers is because the Algerians retreat from buying gold and jewellery due to the health conditions that the country is going through as a result of COVID-19 and the abolition of weddings. These factors contributed to the high price of gold in the market, where it exceeded DZD 1000/gram and rises according to quality”.

It is known that the Tourism and Traditional Industry Ministry previously called on various economic institutions and businessmen to support and assist craftsmen with the raw materials to practice their activity.