The value of the Algerian dinar at the official rate plunges dizzyingly. Yesterday, the national currency traded at 152.25 to the euro, a new record after the historic peaks recorded in recent weeks. Last Wednesday, the threshold of 150 dinars for one euro was crossed for the first time (150,006).

Against the US dollar too, the dinar tumbled (128.13 Da for a USD on Monday). The primary impact of such a situation can only be negative for purchasing power. The prices of imported products paid in dollars or euros are expected to systematically increase on the domestic market. But for a balanced budget, this is far from a bad thing.

The shortfall for the Treasury due to the decline in the price of hydrocarbons will be mitigated by this decline in the value of the dinar, the volume of oil taxation being expressed in national currency and that of export earnings in dollars. It is above all the rapprochement between the official and parallel values of the dinar that presents itself as good news.

Parallel to its fall on official prices, the dinar has slightly reinvigorated on the black market where the euro is now trading at about 190 dinars. The gap is narrowing and the differential between the two currencies is now close to 38 dinars, or 24.8%.

At this rate, parity between official and parallel courses, which several specialists have been calling for for years, could be achieved in the long term. This would perhaps spell the end of the black market for the currency, or at least put an end to a practice that is extremely damaging to the economy, the overcharging of imports. The double quotation benefits those who have access to the currency at the official rate. That's how the mechanics work.

Even before carrying out his commercial operation, the importer makes a huge capital gain on the currencies acquired and transferred legally. Overbilling allows him to pay the invoice for the goods purchased abroad and to generate a plus intended for other uses including the acquisition of goods abroad or resale on the parallel market with a profit margin of around 70%.

The fight against overbilling, promised by President Tebboune as soon as he took office, requires, among other things, the elimination of the black market for foreign currencies, at least by narrowing the gap between official and parallel prices. However, is the objective being achieved? The economist Souhil Meddah, who recently spoke on the subject in the columns of Liberté, estimates that in view of the trends observed recently, the parity would be in a range between 165 and 170 dinars for one euro. We are only at about fifteen dinars, but there is no guarantee that the trend will continue at the same pace in the long term.

In other words, a new surge of the euro and the dollar on the parallel market is not excluded, given that the current decline is mainly caused by the global health situation. The reopening of borders and the resumption of air and maritime transport activities, trade, tourist or business visas and pilgrimage may indeed push up the price of foreign currency and slow down the rapprochement between the two prices that began several months ago.