ALGIERS – The governor of the Bank of Algeria (BA), Salah Eddine Taleb, urged the local banks to make more effort to finance new value-creating projects and to find the best mechanisms to develop the financial inclusion in all its dimensions, said a statement from the Central Bank on Thursday.
These orientations were assigned during a meeting, held by Mr. Taleb with the general managers of local banks, “with the aim of consulting and discussing the situation of the Algerian banking system, as well as its prospects for evolution”, explains the same source.
To this end, the governor “urged the banks to make more effort to finance new value-creating projects and to find the best mechanisms to develop financial inclusion in all its dimensions, with the aim of increase the collection of resources and the financing of the national economy, in particular towards SMEs”, it is specified in the same text.
He also supported the “importance of making digital means of payment available, without neglecting all scriptural means adapted to the needs of customers”, recalling that “Algeria had undeniable assets to ensure an economic boom commensurate with the objectives set,” the statement added.
The Governor of the Bank of Algeria stressed, in the same vein, that “with regard to foreign trade operations, banks are more than ever called upon to promote non-hydrocarbon exports by ensuring, through trained, popularizing and disseminating exchange regulations to their customers.
In addition, Mr. Taleb clarified that “the banking system, which has shown great resilience in the face of the global economic crisis and the impact of the health crisis in 2020 and 2021, has seen its solvency and liquidity strengthen in 2022”, according to the same source.
“Although the macro financial indicators are favourable, the growth of credits for financing the economy has not been in line with the potential and the needs of the economy”, insisted the governor.
This meeting, the first of the year 2023, was an opportunity to present the main monetary indicators for the year 2022, developments in terms of bank liquidity and monetary financing conditions, as well as the application of the foreign exchange regulations, in particular that relating to the support of non-hydrocarbon exporters, the press release indicates.
It also made it possible to discuss the concerns of the banking sector and is part of a communication and consultation approach around current banking issues, adds the same source.