The Minister of Finance, Brahim Djamel Kassali, presented on Thursday before the Finance and Budget Committee of the National People’s Assembly (APN), the draft law on money and credit which tends to strengthen the governance and transparency of the banking system, especially the Bank of Algeria, by conferring new prerogatives to the Council of Money and Credit (CMC).
During a meeting chaired by Lakhdar Salmi, chairman of the committee, in the presence of the Minister of Relations with Parliament, Basma Azouar, Mr. Kassali said that this text of law abrogating Ordinance No. 03-11 of 26 August 2003 on money and credit, amended and supplemented, is part of “the reforms initiated by the authorities and the restructuring of the monetary and financial system in Algeria, in order to adapt to the latest developments and better meet the requirements of the expected economic reform.
This reform would strengthen the performance of economic businesses and encourage foreign investment, which needs to be facilitated in terms of capital transfer.
This “profound revision” aims to strengthen the governance and transparency of the banking system, with the Bank of Algeria at the top of the list, by giving the Money and Credit Council (CMC) new prerogatives enabling it to support the transformations in the banking ecosystem, by extending its prerogatives with regard to the licensing of investment banks, digital banks, payment service providers and independent dealers, by authorising the opening of foreign exchange offices and by strengthening the role of the Banking Commission as a supervisory authority and as a judicial and administrative body, the Minister added.
The establishment of a new legal framework governing the activity of money and credit, in application of the programme of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, aimed at adapting the development of the banking environment to the economic, financial and technological transition that Algeria is undergoing, and to face the current challenges, Mr. Kassali said.
In this context, the Minister referred to the different steps in the evolution of the laws governing banking activity in Algeria, which, he said, have undergone several modifications since the early 1990s, in response to the country’s economic and financial changes.
