The General Confederation of Algerian Entrepreneurs (CGEA) published Thursday evening a letter addressed by its president, Saida Neghza, to the President of the Republic, in which she paints a bleak picture of the economic situation in Algeria.
The employers’ organization speaks of a “generalized slump, a business climate suffering from a lack of confidence and an almost generalized escalation of prices.” The list of CGEA grievances is long.
“I receive recurring complaints from businessmen who complain of persecution and various pressures from different state representatives,” wrote CGEA president Saida Neghza in her letter.
The employers’ organization continues by affirming that “businessmen are complaining about fines imposed by a committee made up of five ministers, without even having the right to access their files”.
“These fines sometimes exceed for some the amount of the assets of their companies that they will not be able to pay”, adds the president of the Confederation of Algerian Entrepreneurs in her letter to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Saida Neghza believes that “it would have been preferable to study each file separately and, if necessary, to take legal action. The right of defense is guaranteed by the constitution to every citizen”.
The President of the General Confederation of Algerian Entrepreneurs then wonders about the chances of the businessmen summoned by this committee and whom everyone is talking about in business circles in Algeria.
When a businessman is summoned before a committee of which the Minister of Justice is a member, he finds himself disarmed and without any protection, otherwise what saint can he turn to? asks Saida Neghza.
The president of the Confederation of Algerian Entrepreneurs proposes to “approach this issue in a rational manner (…), with the obligation to launch productive investment projects in their respective fields of activity…”.
In her letter to President Tebboune, Saida Neghza addresses a hitherto taboo subject that concerns Algerian businessmen who have made real estate acquisitions abroad.
Saida Neghza paints a black picture of the economic situation in Algeria
“We have to take into account the peculiarities of the country, including the non-convertibility of the dinar and the square (currency black market, NDR)… Any businessman who has made profits aspires to own property in Algeria and abroad (…), but Algerian law does not allow it,” adds Saida Neghza, addressing the President of the Republic.
The President of the General Confederation of Algerian Entrepreneurs asks another question: “So how to deal rationally with this question. Is it by bankrupting the operators concerned, by selling or closing their factories and putting thousands of workers out of work (…)?”.
In addition to the existence of this committee, the president of the General Confederation of Algerian Entrepreneurs is asking President Tebboune to set up a commission of inquiry to shed light on the “issue of import licenses and the quotas some and not others”.
“Currently, we are seeing high prices and a scarcity of products due to the restrictions of Algex and other authorizations required” by certain ministries, “which we do not know how they proceed and according to what criteria they are issued”, denounces Saida Neghza, who calls for transparency in the management of imports.
The president of the Confederation of Algerian Entrepreneurs also complains about the lack of responses to the grievances of businessmen that she herself feels to certain ministries.
Among the other problems raised by Saida Neghza are the “fear of cold room owners of going to prison” and the closure of factories whose situation “is not regularized”…
The president of the Confederation of Algerian Entrepreneurs finally proposed the organization of a tripartite (Government – employers – unions) to discuss the country’s economic problems.
