Algeria disavows banking and denies having resumed commercial relations with Spain

July 31 () –

Algeria has disavowed the Professional Association of Banks and Financial Entities (Abef) of Algeria, an entity that had announced this Thursday the unblocking of banking operations with Spain, and has denied that it will resume said commercial relations.

“Economic decisions, in particular those related to business partner relationships, are the exclusive prerogatives of the State and not of professional organizations, such as the Association of Banks and Financial Entities (Abef),” reads a statement collected by the state news agency PHC.

Algiers has clarified that Abef is a professional association that defends the interests of its members and has recalled that this organization “cannot replace the state institutions in charge of finances, the economy and foreign trade.”

“The communication about an alleged withdrawal of Algeria in its commercial relations with Spain are erroneous, because no official information has been made public in this regard by the competent authorities or institutions”, the Algerian authorities have explained.

Abef had announced this Thursday the unblocking of banking operations with Spain, more than 50 days after Algiers announced the freezing of all transactions with Spanish banks.

In a letter sent to the general directors of Algerian banks and financial institutions, Abef explained that “the precautionary measures mentioned above are no longer applicable”, thus rendering the prohibition of banking operations with Spain null and void.

“I have the honor to inform you that, after the evaluation of the system described in this letter and in consultation with the affected foreign trade agents, the precautionary measures (in relation to Spain) mentioned are no longer necessary,” reads the press release. Algerian employers.

Since June 9, direct debits from Algeria with Spanish foreign trade have been frozen, as well as the suspension of the friendship treaty between the two countries, due to the “unjustifiable” turn of the Spanish Government on Western Sahara.

The Algerian authorities criticize the Spanish for the campaign undertaken to try to argue a political turn that, according to what they have put forward, supposes a “violation of the legal, moral and political obligations” of what continues to be the “administrating power” of Western Sahara.