Second-hand clothes importers threaten to take to the streets
Second –hand clothes’ importers have threatened to take to the streets and stage rallies in reaction to the finance minister’s decision to forbid this activity in the future.
- They have called on the government to reconsider this decision arguing that dozens of families are earning their living from this business. They have also demanded the compensation of the importers in case of the closure of their businesses.
- The reaction of the fripperies’ owners came after the intervention of M Karim Djoudi made the day before yesterday at the parliament where he suggested the ban of the import of second -hand clothes with the aim to protect the domestic textile industry.
- The suggestion was widely approved by the members of the financial commission of the parliament as part of the revision of the 2010 financial law.
- The head of the second-hand clothes association, based in Tebessa ( far east Algeria), M Cherif Farhi has indicated in a declaration to Echourouk that some 500 employees working in 70 factories will lose their jobs if the measure is put into effect.
- He has downgraded the minister’s arguments saying that the clothes are imported from several countries including Switzerland, Germany and Tunisia and go through a treatment process before reaching Algeria.
- He wondered about the main reasons behind this determination to forbid the import of the second-hand clothes especially that they are scrupulously controlled by the finance and health ministries’ services before entering the Algerian soil.
- The labor party is one of the staunch advocates of the suppression of this business that undermine the efforts deployed by the authorities to overhaul the textile industry in Algeria.
- Ramdhane Taazibth has indicated that the minister’s move meets the demand of hundreds of employees wondering how the Algerian authorities inject $ 2 billion to boost this industry, while some parties encourage the import of second-hand clothes.