Algeria: Government to bar use of cash for mandatory insurance premium payments
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Jan 2025
The Algerian government is prohibiting cash payments in several sectors to prevent money laundering, tax evasion and other illegal activities. The changes have been stipulated in the 2025 Finance Act and will be effective from January 2025.
The act requires that payments in multiple transaction be made through banking channels. These include real estate transactions (built and unbuilt property), the sale of vehicles and yachts and the settlement of compulsory insurance.
These requirements have created apprehensions in the public because of the lack of banking coverage in the country, patchy internet connectivity in certain regions affecting online payments and a lack of preparedness among insurers and banks.
Over the past two decades, the government’s efforts at reducing cash transactions have been hampered by the constraints of a severely underbanked economy.
Compulsory insurance in Algeria include motor third-party liability and Nat CAT insurance. The former branch dominates while the premiums of most insurance policies are less than DZD5,000 ($37) a year. M