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Middle East and Central Asia > Algeria

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Cover IMF How To Notes
How To Design Excise Taxes on Alcoholic Beverages
Mario Mansour, Patrick Petit, and Fayçal Sawadogo
This How to Note examines the complex interplay between excise taxes on alcohol and alcoholic beverages, their revenue yield, and the public health concerns related to alcohol consumption. The note suggests guidance on how countries can approach the design of excise taxes on alcohol based on theoretical principles as well as empirical evidence drawn from international experience. Key questions addressed include: How important is alcohol consumption, and what form does it take across countries of different income levels? What has been the trend in alcohol excise tax revenue? How can countries design simple excise regimes that yield revenue while having the potential to contribute to reducing the externalities and internalities caused by alcohol consumption?
Keywords:
excise taxes; alcohol consumption; public health; alcohol excise tax system; publication order; transaction arbitrage; alcohol content; Excises; Consumption; Alcohol tax; Global; Europe; Central Asia; North America; Sub-Saharan Africa
Cover Policy Papers
Annual Update on SDR Trading Operations
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
This paper provides an update on the status of the SDR trading market and operations. For more than three decades, SDRs have exclusively been exchanged for freely usable currencies in transactions by agreement, primarily through the Voluntary Trading Arrangements (VTAs). Since the last annual update, SDR trading has continued to be dominated by SDR sales, although SDR acquisitions have increased significantly. From September 2022 to August 2023, SDR 17.9 billion were sold through the VTA market, of which SDR 8.9 billion were exchanged by 29 participants into currencies and SDR 8.0 billion were sold by the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) and the Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) for liquidity management and to facilitate the investment of SDR contributions. On the purchase side, the volume and number of transactions increased from the previous year as more participants needed to replenish their SDR holdings to cover charges to the IMF, reflecting the rising SDR interest rate. The VTAs continue to have ample capacities to meet the demand for exchange of SDRs into currencies.
Keywords:
SDR trading capacity; SDR sale; SDR department participant; VTA market; IMF-administered trust; SDR trade; Currencies; Liquidity; Trading arrangements; Freely usable currencies; Middle East and Central Asia
Cover IMF Working Papers
Informality, Labor Market Dynamics, and Business Cycles in North Africa
Olivier Bizimana and Shant Arzoumanian
Employment informality is widespread across North Africa. This paper aims to shed light on the role played by the informal sector in labor market adjustments over the business cycle. It finds that the response of labor markets to output fluctuations is more muted in countries with higher informality levels, like the North African economies. The analysis also confirms that informal employment is countercyclical and acts as a buffer during economic downturns in countries with relatively higher informality. However, contrary to what took place in past recessions, informal employment contracted sharply during the 2020 pandemic recession in high informality economies, suggesting that it did not play its traditional countercyclical role. By contrast, employment informality tends to fall modestly or increase during economic upturns, including the post-pandemic recovery. This finding presages the persistence of a large informal sector in the post-covid era in medium- and high-informality countries.
Keywords:
Informality; Labor Markets; Business cycles; Okun’s Law; employment informality; labor market dynamics; business cycles in North Africa; informality economy; law coefficients from panel regression; product market rigidity; Informal employment; Employment; Economic recession; Labor force participation; North Africa
Cover IMF Working Papers
Personal Income Taxes in the Middle East and North Africa: Prospects and Possibilities
Mario Mansour and Eric M. Zolt
Personal income taxes (PITs) play little or no role in the Middle East and North Africa, often yielding less than 2 percent of GDP in revenue—with the exception of few North African countries. This paper examines how PITs have evolved in recent decades, and what they might look like in the next 20 years. Top marginal tax rates on labor and business income of individuals have declined substantially, a trend that mirrors reductions in advanced and developing economies. Taxation of passive capital income has changed very little, and the revenue intake from this source remains low throughout the region (less than 1 percent of GDP on average and concentrated in oil-importing non-fragile states). Social security contributions (SSC) have increased in importance in nearly all MENA countries, and some countries have introduced additional payroll taxes. The combination of reduced marginal tax rates, light taxation of income from capital and business activities, and increase of SSC, have resulted in income tax systems that create disincentives to work and incentives for informality, and contribute little to government revenue and income redistribution. Given differences in economic and political structures, demographics, and starting points, the path to PIT/SSC reforms will vary across the region. Countries with relatively mature PIT/SSC systems, where revenue performance has improved in the past two decades, will increasingly need to balance the revenue and equity objectives against effciency objectives (in particular labor market incentives and infromality). Countries with no PITs will have to weigh whether a consumption tax/SSC system that mimic a flat tax on labor income is sufficient to diversify revenue away from oil and whether to adopt PITs to address rising income and wealth inequality. Finally, fragile states, who face more political volatility and weaker fiscal institutions, will have to focus on simplicity of tax design and collection to be able to raise revenue from PITs.
Keywords:
Personal income taxes; social security contributions; payroll taxes; fragile and conflict states; Middle East and North Africa; Gulf-Cooperation Council; SSC reform; SSC system; revenue performance; PIT objective; PIT revenue; Personal income tax; Income tax systems; Income; Income and capital gains taxes; Corporate income tax; North Africa; Middle East; East Africa; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Algeria: 2022 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
The 2022 Article IV Consultation with Algeria highlights that the upswing in hydrocarbon prices has alleviated pressures on public and external finances and the post-pandemic recovery has likely gathered pace. The prospects for 2023 are favorable but growth is projected to decelerate and inflation to remain high in the medium term. The near-term outlook for the Algerian economy has materially improved, buoyed by the upswing in hydrocarbon prices. The announced sizeable rise in spending under the 2023 budget could reverse the progress achieved on narrowing the deficit since 2018, weaken the resilience of public finances and add to inflation pressures. The medium-term deficit trajectory also carries risks for macroeconomic stability. Continued wide fiscal deficits and increasing principal repayments coming due on past monetary financing would result in large fiscal financing needs through the medium term. As the authorities have ruled out foreign borrowing, meeting these financing needs would heap significant pressure on the domestic banking system and pose risks to financial and macroeconomic stability. Gradual fiscal rebalancing guided by a rules-based framework is needed to enhance the resilience of public finances and safeguard macroeconomic stability in the medium term.
Keywords:
money market rate; oil prices decline; financial asset; liability positions vis-à-vis nonresident; headline inflation; Inflation; Budget planning and preparation; State-owned banks; Tax administration core functions; Budget execution and treasury management; Global; Middle East and Central Asia
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Algeria: 2022 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
Algeria’s economic recovery from the pandemic has been buoyed by the rise in international hydrocarbon prices. Fiscal and external surpluses are expected in 2022 for the first time in years. Inflation has nevertheless accelerated, as elsewhere, and has become a complex policy challenge. Monetary policy remained accommodative, while the dinar appreciated in the second half of the year. The authorities have gradually advanced on their structural reform agenda, with the enactment of a new law on investment, renewed efforts to accelerate digitalization, significant progress on tax and public finance management reforms, and a forthcoming revision to the central bank law.
Keywords:
money market rate; oil prices decline; financial asset; liability positions vis-à-vis nonresident; headline inflation; Inflation; Budget planning and preparation; State-owned banks; Tax administration core functions; Budget execution and treasury management; Global; Middle East and Central Asia
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Algeria: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
This Selected Issues paper discusses designing a rules-based fiscal framework for Algeria. Algeria’s government has set a number of fiscal reform priorities and aims to maintain prudent and sustainable policies. This paper discusses the design of a rules-based fiscal framework which could help rebuild buffers and support the government’s policy agenda. The proposed calibration, which relies on two separate pillars— a gross debt pillar and a savings pillar—is well suited to Algeria and to its long-term objectives. The paper finds that building a fiscal buffer of about 40 percent of gross domestic product, via the combination of a savings floor and a safe gross debt target, could preserve medium-term fiscal sustainability and insure public finances against hydrocarbon price shocks. The savings floor is calibrated based on a stochastic approach so as to protect Algerian public finances against hydrocarbon price shocks. The debt anchor, or medium-term gross debt target, is calibrated so as to prevent debt from reaching potentially unsustainable territory under a wide range of macro-fiscal scenarios. A multiyear transition period is needed to set the proposed rules-based framework in place.
Keywords:
savings buffer; inflation dynamics; food inflation; inflation distribution; consumer price inflation; Inflation; Oil prices; Fiscal governance; Fiscal rules; Global; Middle East and Central Asia
Cover Policy Papers
Annual Update on SDR Trading Operations
International Monetary Fund. Finance Dept.
This paper provides an update on the status of the SDR trading market and operations one year after the historic fourth general allocation of SDRs. In the reporting period, SDR trading has been dominated by SDR sales due to the 2021 SDR allocation. The VTAs continue to have ample capacities to meet the demand for exchange of SDRs into currencies. Staff has made significant progress in further strengthening the SDR trading market. Since the SDR allocation, eight new VTA members have been welcomed to the SDR trading market and many existing VTA members provided additional operational flexibilities. Discussions with a number of potential new entrants continue in the broader context of SDR channeling, which encourages contributors to have VTAs.
Keywords:
SDR sale; SDR trading market; SDR trading capacity; SDR amount; SDR market; VTA member; Trading arrangements; Freely usable currencies; Currencies; Middle East and Central Asia
Cover Departmental Papers
Revenue Mobilization for a Resilient and Inclusive Recovery in the Middle East and Central Asia
Ms. Genevieve Verdier, Brett Rayner, Ms. Priscilla S Muthoora, Charles Vellutini, Ling Zhu, Vincent de Paul Koukpaizan, Alireza Marahel, Mahmoud Harb, Imen Benmohamed, Mr. Shafik Hebous, Andrew Okello, Nathalie Reyes, Thomas Benninger, and Bernard Sanya
Domestic revenue mobilization has been a longstanding challenge for countries in the Middle East and Central Asia. Insufficient revenue has often constrained priority social and infrastructure spending, reducing countries’ ability to reach the Sustainable Development Goals, improve growth prospects, and address climate related challenges. Moreover, revenue shortfalls have often been compensated by large and sustained debt accumulation, raising vulnerabilities in some countries, and limiting fiscal space to address future shocks. The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have compounded challenges to sustainable public finances, underscoring the need for revenue mobilization efforts. The recent global crises have also exacerbated existing societal inequalities and highlighted the importance of raising revenues in an efficient and equitable manner. This paper examines the scope for additional tax revenue mobilization and discusses policies to gradually raise tax revenue while supporting resilient growth and inclusion in the Middle East and Central Asia. The paper’s main findings are that excluding hydrocarbon revenues, the region’s average tax intake lags those of other regions; the region’s fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS) face particular challenges in mobilizing tax revenue; In general, there is considerable scope to raise additional tax revenue; countries have made efforts to raise tax collection, but challenges remain; tax policy design, notably low tax rates and pervasive tax exemptions, is an important factor driving tax revenue shortfalls; weak tax compliance, reflecting both structural features and challenges in revenue administration, also plays a role; and personal income tax systems in the region vary in their progressivity—the extent to which the average tax rate increases with income—and in their ability to redistribute income. These findings provide insights for policy action to raise revenue while supporting resilient growth and inclusion. The paper’s analysis points to these priorities for the region to improve both efficiency and equity of tax systems: improving tax policy design to broaden the tax base and increase progressivity and redistributive capacity; strengthening revenue administration to improve compliance; and implementing structural reforms to incentivize tax compliance, formalization, and economic diversification.
Keywords:
Revenue mobilization; revenue gaps; tax compliance; compliance gaps; tax policy; tax revenue gap; estimated tax; Gini coefficient; revenue challenge; tax revenue shortfall; systems in the region; tax Effort; tax ratio; Personal income tax; Tax administration core functions; Tax collection; Corporate income tax; Middle East and Central Asia; Global; Central Asia and the Caucasus; Middle East; Tax return filing compliance
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Algeria: 2021 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Algeria
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
The concomitant Covid-19 pandemic and oil price shock in 2020 have taken a heavy toll on the Algerian economy and the population. The authorities’ response helped mitigate the social and economic impact of the crisis. Nevertheless, the crisis exacerbated the Algerian economy’s vulnerabilities, making even more urgent the need for a new, more inclusive and sustainable, growth model. A recovery is underway in 2021, but the outlook remains challenging. While the recent rebound in hydrocarbon prices should buoy the recovery and ease immediate financing constraints, addressing long-standing structural challenges will help to realize Algeria’s vast growth potential for the benefit of its population.
Keywords:
government financing; central bank; private sector investment; Policy discussion; central bank financing; financial asset; policy mix; base period; COVID-19; Oil prices; Imports; State-owned banks; Global