Ramadan 2013: Algerians withdraw Billions of Dinars from Post Offices

Algerians withdraw, during the first two days of Ramadan, 3 thousand billion centimes from 3,400 Post Offices, as more than 1.5 million Algerians buy Ramadan baskets every day.

General Manager of Algiers Post Office, Mohamed Al Eid Mahloul, told Echorouk that Algerians withdraw the equivalent of 1200 billion centimes per day, and in a week the total value which they withdraw from Post Offices reached 10 thousand billion centimes, to purchase supplies of Ramadan, as the withdrawal is expected to reach by the end of Ramadan 60 thousand billion centimes, while it is equivalent to 24 thousand billion centimes during the normal days.

“More than 1.5 million Algerians visit every day Post Offices to withdraw their money in this month, in which the daily expenses of the citizens doubled, as financial operations moved from 800 thousand transactions in the normal day to one million per day”.

” It was decided to extend the time of the opening of Post Offices to one hour plus throughout the month of Ramadan, as they will be open until midnight , so as to meet the needs of its customers which number reaches $ 13 million Algerians. Practical solutions for each region or city will be taken as well, or procedures to ensure coordination between many centers, in order to face the problem of lack of liquidity, which is noticed during Ramadan. Cells for a follow-up in each city were created to monitor the liquidity reserve cash, working in coordination with the Central Bank and local authorities of each wilaya, to control the evolution of the situation throughout the month of Ramadan. During the first two days of this holy month, no deficit or a lack of liquidity was registered, and funds are available at most Post centers.