Shadowy import lobbies set to “starve” Algerians by reaping $ 8 billion dollars annually

The Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADHH) on Wednesday urged the Ministry of Trade to immediately intervene to hold at bay the money-grabbing import lobbies which, it says, deliberately create scarcity in the national market through speculation practices and by hiking at will the prices of staple commodities, in order to be able to massively import goods from abroad for a bill amounting to over $ 8 billion dollars annually.

According to a statement of which “Echorouk” possesses a copy, the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights denounced the ever-increasing consumer prices, saying that the national market is now beset by a state of chaos as the prices of basic foodstuffs have been skyrocketing with the approach of this year’s holy month of fasting of Ramadan.

The LADHH also severely hit out against the Government and Parliament, accusing them of enforcing measures highly detrimental to the already-eroded citizens’ purchasing power, notably after the ratification of the 2017 Finance Law almost two months ago, describing it as  likely to threaten the peace and social stability, on account of the steep taxes and heavy fees included in this “contentious” law.

It added that the ordinary citizens are now bearing the brunt of the latter’s adverse impact on staple commodities’ prices instead of seeing stringent steps taken by the relevant authorities to stamp out the corruption-bent external trading lobbies, as it put it.