4 mechanisms to raise expatriate remittances to $35 billion annually – Al-Hiwar Al-Jazaeryia

The President of the General Union of Algerians in the Diaspora, Saïd Ben Roquia, presented a set of proposals that he will submit to the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in order to raise the financial transfers of the Algerian community to greater levels, which currently do not exceed, according to the latest report of the World Bank, $1.8 billion, which is equivalent to 1.1 percent. % of the gross domestic product, which is a very weak percentage compared to the size of the Algerian community abroad and its economic potential.

The proposals submitted, according to the statement of the General Union of Algerians in the Diaspora, issued today, Monday, to speed up and double the process of opening bank branches in the countries of the diaspora, especially France and some capitals of European countries, given that the three bank branches that officially entered the stage of embodiment in Senegal, Mauritania and France are not sufficient. The second proposal includes reviewing and modernizing the banking system in its part related to international bank transfers, with the immediate prevention of illegal parallel transactions at the national level, and working to attract and return foreign currency capital in the parallel market to official banks, which is estimated at more than $90 billion.

The union also proposes facilitating access to the public and private national market within the framework of digital trade, especially since Algeria is on the verge of a revolution in the field of local manufacturing and in most fields. In addition to allocating housing formulas for the community and activating the presidential decree on the voluntary enrollment of the community in the National Social Security Fund through public bank branches in the diaspora, it can contribute significantly to raising the rate of remittances and attracting hard currency.

Said Ben Roquia believes that the embodiment of these proposals on the ground by providing these conditions may raise remittances from the Algerian community abroad to the threshold of 35 billion dollars as an initial stage, with an annual increase that may reach 10%, which may reach the value of remittances to 50 billion dollars before the end of the year 2025.

The World Bank report ranked Algeria in seventh place with an estimated value of $61 billion in remittances in the Middle East and North Africa region, after Tunisia and Jordan with $2.2 and $3.6 billion, respectively, while Egypt ranked first with $31 billion. Of remittances for $44 billion pertaining to Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, out of the total value of expatriate transfers of hard currency to their countries of origin around the world, according to World Bank statistics for the year 2021, estimated at $548 billion. As the transfers of the Algerian community abroad do not exceed 0.31% of this total value.

The General Union of Algerians in the Diaspora affirms that this contribution is weak and insufficient compared to the economic potential of our community and its size, which is considered among the largest in the world, despite the slight increase in the transfer rate for the year 2021 compared to previous years, which did not exceed $150 million, after reviewing the banking system and including The “Swift” system for international bank transfers, and some other factors represented in the economic and social recovery that some European countries are witnessing after the global crisis due to both the Corona crisis and the Russian-Ukrainian war.