The Diplomat
Algeria yesterday distanced itself from the announcement by the Algerian banking employers’ association, which on Thursday said that the freeze on banking operations with Spain decreed on 8 June had ceased to apply.
In a note published by the official news agency APS, the Algerian government stated that trade relations with Spain “are the exclusive prerogative of the state and not of professional organisations such as the Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (ABEF)”.
The ABEF had announced the lifting of restrictions that suspended direct debits for foreign trade between the two countries, which blocked transactions.
The note distributed by the official news agency recalls that the ABEF (which brings together some thirty banks and financial establishments operating in Algeria) ‘is a professional association and defends the interests of its members’. It adds that ‘no official information has been made public in this regard by the competent authorities or institutions’, so that ‘information suggesting that Algeria has reversed its decision to block trade relations is ‘erroneous’.
Trade relations between the two countries amounted to more than $4.5 billion (around 4.4 billion euros at current exchange rates) in 2020.
The ABEF’s decision to suspend banking operations with Spain was taken after the suspension of the Treaty of Friendship on 8 June, and since June it has blocked goods at customs as well as paralysing the opening of new operations.
At the time, the Algerian government made no statement, but yesterday it specified, through the ASPS, that “decisions regarding financial and commercial matters that commit the State are taken by the Council of Ministers, by the Ministry of Finance or by the Bank of Algeria and are announced through official channels”.
