Trade: “This Is A New File For Importing Items For Sale On The Condition”

The services of the Ministry of Trade and Export Promotion began to facilitate the import process of materials destined for sale in the event that recorded a shortage in the national market, in response to the orders of the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and in implementation of the instructions of the Minister of the Sector, Tayeb Zitouni, who stressed the need to expedite the response to requests.
While the process of assessing the needs of the national market continues, in recent days, traders have received the import bank settlement document to resume their activities, after the process witnessed difficulties that reduced imports for more than a year.
They officially confirm the possession of this document, which replaces the import licenses, and accordingly they will be able to import clothing, especially with a brand, shoes, auto parts, drugs, hardware, agricultural tools and equipment, and other products that were banned.
In order to avert misunderstandings with the European Union, the Arab region, and countries that have preferential agreements with Algeria and do not want to face any obstacles to the passage of their goods, the government replaced the import license with a bank settlement document for imports.
Today, the executive tends to import everything that the citizen or industry needs, avoiding the pervasive import policy that exhausted the balance of trade during the era of the previous regime. The Ministry of Trade is also working to operate a platform to respond to requests centrally and digitally, as the Algerian Foreign Trade Promotion Agency has done in recent months.
The relevant authorities aim to facilitate the response to requests through the new procedures, as importers are expected to start the process of bank settlement of imports at the bank level starting Monday, April 10.
Commenting on the file, Ali Bey Naceri, a foreign trade expert, said in a statement to Echorouk that a shortage in the market regarding some products intended for sale in the current situation during the recent period prompted the government to reassess the situation, which was initiated by the services of the Ministry of Trade and Export Promotion notably by organizing meetings with traders and identifying the needs of the market, as the process is continuous.
Our interlocutor stressed that the aim of the import control measures is to protect the national economy, but without a return to wild importation, as the national market has witnessed a scarcity of some materials in the recent period, which prompted a review of the procedures for importing some items of materials destined for sale on condition, which is a positive decision – says the speaker – Especially after the scarcity of some materials such as spare parts, pharmaceutical products, some types of raw materials such as wood and some items of household electrical equipment, utensils and other materials were recorded.
The former president of the Algerian exporters’ association spoke of the need to transform the activities of these importers into local production in the future by providing them with the necessary facilities, such as industrial real estate, licenses and loans, and by obliging them to gradually move from importing to producing and then exporting, especially since they have extensive experience in the sectors in which they work and have an important distribution network at their disposal.