Algeria Targets Hidden $40 Billion as Oil-Price Pleas Ignored
- State offers black-market traders amnesty to bolster revenue
- Dinar allowed to hit record low amid global oil slump
A market in Algiers, Algeria.
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Day and night, trucks trundle the 10 miles from Algiers port to the suburb of Semmar, where workers unload and stack goods that will feed into a vast black market.
Merchants pack narrow streets to buy canned and dry fruit, grains and vegetables for cash, with the biggest crowds gathering after dark. Bazaars like this drive a $40 billion untaxed parallel economy, one the government says it can no longer tolerate as the oil slump slashes revenue and fellow OPEC members rebuff Algeria’s pleas for steps to prop up prices.