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Zitouni takes aim at regional and foreign circles
Reduction of imports has been the subject of defamatory attacks
Whether you like it or not, sovereign Algeria and not irritating any external debt has reduced the number of importers by almost half, going from 13,500 in 2019 to 7,700 in 2023, something that certain regional organizations and foreign spheres, in an economic situation and commercial criticism and taken by the very high rate of global inflation caused by the effects of the war in Ukraine, are unable to swallow it by launching into a dirty slanderous campaign against Algeria going so far as to even raise restrictions on imports from the Algerian state. The Algerian response to these foreign defamatory criticisms was not long in coming, it was delivered, the day before yesterday, Thursday, by the Minister of Trade and Export Promotion, Tayeb Zitouni, during of his intervention given during a plenary session devoted to oral questions from members of the Council of the Nation, when the member of the Government declared, loud and clear, that “Algeria intended to regulate import operations and rationalize them and not freeze them as certain regional organizations and foreign spheres had claimed, seeking to exert pressure on Algeria and to exhaust its foreign exchange capacities and, above all, to make it reverse some of its sovereign decisions.
Some parties have created a great media stir by talking about the closure of Algeria’s foreign trade as well as restrictions on imports, while we import for a value of 44 billion USD, which means that these remarks are completely unfounded. It is clear that we are being targeted, and we cannot have sovereignty over our political decisions without having sovereignty over our economic decisions,” he asserts.
Before the attentive listening of senators, Tayeb Zitouni will say that
“These measures taken with regard to importers have made it possible to contribute to the development and diversify the economic fabric of the country, and to transform many importers into manufacturers and even exporters, particularly in certain agri-food industries, which has enabled the creation of thousands of job positions,” said the Minister of Commerce, Tayeb Zitouni.
Formally denying what has been said and reported by certain regional organizations and foreign spheres on Algeria’s ban on the use of imports and loudly condemning the pressure exerted by certain foreign circles, Tayeb Zitouni stressed that “ thanks to measures to regulate and rationalize imports, the import bill fell to 44 billion USD in 2023 against 60 billion USD recorded previously, which protected Algeria from external debts and recourse to financing unconventional,” observed the Minister of Commerce.
Better, Tayeb Zitouni announced another reduction in the import bill planned for the year 2024, “which reflects the adoption of an integrated economic policy, and not an austerity policy”, according to The Minister. Speaking of figures, Tayeb Zitouni specified that the Ministry of Trade and Export Promotion “processed in 2023, 32,550 invoices from 7,772 importers, with a value of around 14 billion USD, an increase of 38% compared to 2022,” he said in front of the many senators present in the room.
On the other hand, and during his presentation to the Council of the Nation, the Minister of Commerce spoke, the day before yesterday Thursday in Algiers, of a “complete and global” plan to control prices. While highlighting an increase in the value of the national currency thanks to the development of Algerian exports, Tayeb Zitouni also revealed the beginning of a decline in inflation and the abundance of widely consumed products on national markets.
Two positive points to which are added, the minister will say, a relentless fight against the phenomenon of counterfeiting.
In this regard, Tayeb Zitouni indicated that 17 complaints against counterfeiting were filed in 2023 by economic operators with the control services relating to the sector, seven of which concern food products.
Sofiane Abi