Digital System Enhances Market Control, Food Security
Algeria is implementing presidential directives to combat illegal speculation and strengthen food sovereignty. These measures include digitalization for market monitoring and new regulatory frameworks to protect citizen purchasing power.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has initiated comprehensive measures to safeguard citizen purchasing power and dignity, establishing food security as a cornerstone of national sovereignty. These efforts include a robust legal framework, notably Law 21-15, which was enacted following presidential directives in 2021. This law criminalizes illegal speculation, such as hoarding goods to create scarcity or artificially manipulating prices, with severe penalties that can extend to 30 years imprisonment or life sentences in specific cases. The overarching goal is to eradicate practices that disrupt market stability and exploit the essential needs of the population.
The government is introducing a new methodology for commercial operations aimed at streamlining supply chains by reducing the involvement of unnecessary intermediaries, thereby limiting excessive profit margins. Enhanced field monitoring targets speculators directly, with deterrent measures including blacklisting and prohibiting commercial activity for violators. Wholesale market representatives are also being integrated into efforts to improve information flow and update market data in real-time. These initiatives are designed to dismantle monopoly networks, prevent implicated parties from accessing commercial registers and banking services, and tighten control over cold storage and distribution warehouses, ensuring greater market transparency and discipline.
Digitalization serves as a crucial enabler for these measures, providing accurate and timely data essential for effective decision-making. A new digital database tracks prices and the availability of essential goods across all wilayas, allowing for the early detection of abnormal price increases and prompt intervention to stabilize the market. This digital tracking extends to monitoring products from production through distribution to the final consumer. Furthermore, a mechanism has been established to purchase and store surplus local agricultural production, reintroducing it to the market during periods of price instability. These comprehensive presidential directives also involve capping prices for certain consumer goods, setting profit margins, and launching investigations into price discrepancies by some importers, all contributing to the broader objective of developing the agricultural sector and reducing import dependency to fortify Algeria’s food sovereignty.
