Algeria's Law No. 23-09 establishes the monetary and banking framework and confirms the dinar as the monetary unit. Its currency provisions locate the money used in Algerian payments within the statutory system governing monetary authority, banking activity and financial institutions.
TL;DR:
- Defines the Algerian dinar and reserves the State's issuance privilege to the Bank of Algeria.
- Enables digital central-bank money under future implementing rules.
- The law establishes monetary and banking powers, rather than proof of a CBDC launch.
Summary
The dinar within the monetary framework
Law No. 23-09 of 21 June 2023 is Algeria's monetary and banking statute. Article 1 identifies the Algerian dinar, divided into one hundred centimes, as the national monetary unit. The currency provisions sit within a wider framework governing the central bank and financial sector. They supply the monetary basis for dinar-denominated payments without defining the terms of every commercial account or payment product using that unit.
The State privilege exercised by the central bank
Article 2 states that the privilege to issue fiduciary currency belongs to the State and is delegated exclusively to the Bank of Algeria. It identifies physical currency as banknotes and metallic coins. The institutional division is important: a commercial bank can distribute cash or maintain a dinar account without acquiring the central bank's public authority to issue the national currency. The law therefore distinguishes the unit, the issuer and the service used to make a payment.
Digital central-bank money requires further rules
The statute recognises a digital form of central-bank currency, described as the Digital Algerian Dinar. Article 3 provides for regulation of its issue, development, management and control, alongside rules governing physical notes and coins. An express statutory power does not establish that a digital currency has already been issued for general use. The operational design and applicable requirements depend on the subsequent legal and regulatory framework.
A foundation for more detailed financial regulation
The wider law underpins banking and related institutional regulation, including later instruments for payment-service providers. Currency-issue powers and a provider's permission to offer services are different legal functions within that framework. For payment-sector users, the law explains the public monetary authority behind dinar values, while specific operating conditions, customer-funds arrangements and authorisation routes must be understood through the instruments applicable to the provider's activity.
Keywords
- Algerian dinar
- Law 23-09
- central issuance
- digital currency
- monetary powers
- banking framework
- implementing rules
- sovereign money
- payment regulation
- CBDC legislation