Algerian PM suspends granting of commercial records

Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sallal announced that the decision to freeze the granting of commercial records for wholesale activities in the border areas of Algeria aims to combat smuggling and eliminate it. In response to a parliamentary question, he said that the measures taken will not affect the process of supplying the citizens of these areas with food and vitality.

Al-Sallal stressed that the Algerian government has decided, in the framework of preserving the interests of the country and protecting the national economy, especially in combating smuggling across the border, to launch a process to monitor and purge trade records of wholesaling activities in the border's provinces after recording the phenomenon of cross-border smuggling of foodstuffs, especially subsidized and fuel.

The Algerian Center for Commercial Registration has taken urgent measures to freeze the registration of wholesale activities in the border provinces, which are known to grow in this activity without affecting the process of supplying citizens with the various foodstuffs and vital needs.

The Algerian PM said that the phenomenon of smuggling is causing serious damage to the national economy. Sallal described the fact that some wholesalers are issuing commercial records for wholesale trade without practicing actual activity at the level of shops authorized in their books, what constitutes an explicit violation of the provisions of the law.

The Algerian army has stepped up security alert on the eastern border with Tunisia and the southern border strip since it closed in May 2014, to combat smuggling networks controlled mostly by extremist organizations deployed in these areas.

The Algerian army, in coordination with the security forces, arrested a large number of smugglers. The smuggled materials contained arms, foodstuffs and fuel.