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Algeria expected to lift bank curbs - adviser
Real estate news By Reuters
Sun 7 Oct 2007, 14:29 GMT
The Algerian government is expected shortly to cancel a decision forcing public companies to put their money only in state-owned banks, a presidential adviser said in remarks published on Sunday. The move to lift the 2004 curb would aim to attract more foreign investors to the north African country, which is struggling to reform its financial system, Abdellatif Benachenhou wrote in El Watan newspaper. "By withdrawing the August 2004 decision, the authorities would show their pragmatism and rationality in financial and economic management," Benachenhou said.
Benachenhou, a former finance minister, is an economic adviser to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The government barred state firms from putting money in private banks in 2004 after what was seen as the country's worst financial scandal caused by the 2003 collapse of the private Khalifa Group, a consortium of companies which included a bank.
The Algerian authorities have since sought the extradition of the group's head, Abdelmoumen Khalifa, who is in London. Benachenhou, who based his expectation on what he called "persistent" information from banks, said the government might be planning to drop the 2004 circular to speed up a slow privatisation process. Algeria is expected to wrap up the sale of a 51 percent stake in its state-owned bank Credit Populaire d'Algerie (CPA) by the end of 2007.
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