No, as long as you declare your project to your bank and bring the money home on time. Then every euro or dollar lands in your foreign currency account. Your bank converts it to dinars in only two cases: you skipped the declaration, or the money came home late.
Currency or dinars: two questions
The rule: you keep 100% in foreign currency
Banque d’Algérie Instruction 06-2021Instruction 06-2021 du 29 juin 2021 relative au compte devise commerçant et au compte devise professionnel non commerçant sets this out clearly. If you hold a trader’s or a professional non-trader’s foreign currency account, your bank credits “the full proceeds” of your exports of goods and services, provided you repatriate them on time (art. 4). Article 67 of Regulation 07-01Règlement 21-01 du 28 mars 2021 modifiant le règlement 07-01 (articles 57 et 67), p. 2, amended in 2021, says the same thing: once the money arrives, the bank credits it to your foreign currency account.
Nobody takes a cut. Say you invoice €2,000 for a declared project and the client pays on time. You get €2,000 in your account, minus your bank’s fees.
Three situations
| Your situation | What your bank does | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Project declared, money home on time | Credits 100% in foreign currency | Instr. 06-2021, art. 4Instruction 06-2021 du 29 juin 2021 relative au compte devise commerçant et au compte devise professionnel non commerçant, p. 1; Reg. 07-01, art. 67Règlement 21-01 du 28 mars 2021 modifiant le règlement 07-01 (articles 57 et 67), p. 2 |
| Project not declared to your bank | Converts it to dinars | Reg. 07-01, arts. 57Règlement 21-01 du 28 mars 2021 modifiant le règlement 07-01 (articles 57 et 67), p. 2 and 67 |
| Money brought home late | Converts it to dinars | Reg. 07-01, art. 67Règlement 21-01 du 28 mars 2021 modifiant le règlement 07-01 (articles 57 et 67), p. 2; Instr. 06-2021, art. 4Instruction 06-2021 du 29 juin 2021 relative au compte devise commerçant et au compte devise professionnel non commerçant, p. 1 |
Article 61 of Regulation 07-01Règlement 26-02 du 23 juillet 2026 modifiant l'article 61 du règlement 07-01 (JO n° 58 du 12 août 2026), p. 28, rewritten in July 2026, sets the deadlines. Your client has up to 120 days after you deliver the service to pay, and you must repatriate the money on the day they pay. One point is still open: when a payment through Payoneer counts as “paid” (guide 9).
Your options
Declare first, then bring the money home right away
Article 57 of Regulation 07-01Règlement 21-01 du 28 mars 2021 modifiant le règlement 07-01 (articles 57 et 67), p. 2 and article 4 of Instruction 06-2021Instruction 06-2021 du 29 juin 2021 relative au compte devise commerçant et au compte devise professionnel non commerçant, p. 1 set out this route. It’s the only way to keep all your earnings in foreign currency.
- Cost: your bank’s fees and your payment provider’s fees. Nothing else.
- Timing: declare before the first payment, and repatriate on the day your client pays.
Step by step
- Declare the project to your bank before you send the first invoice (guide 7).
- Ask your client to pay straight into your foreign currency account in Algeria. If the money goes through a platform first, move it home the same day.
- Check your statement. The amount should show in foreign currency. If it shows in dinars, ask your branch right away which rule they applied.
Let your bank convert the money into dinars
Article 67 covers this case. If you didn’t declare the project, or the money arrived late, your bank pays it out in dinars at the official rate. You haven’t broken a rule, but you can’t undo the conversion: those dinars don’t go back into your foreign currency account.
Don’t confuse this with not bringing the money home at all. Regulation 07-01Règlement 07-01 du 3 février 2007 relatif aux règles applicables aux transactions courantes avec l'étranger et aux comptes devises (version d'origine) forbids keeping it abroad past the deadline, and doing so is a foreign exchange offence (guide 17).
What you can do with the money next
It depends on your type of account, and the rules don’t yet say which account an auto-entrepreneur gets (guide 10).
- Professional non-trader account (Instr. 06-2021, art. 12Instruction 06-2021 du 29 juin 2021 relative au compte devise commerçant et au compte devise professionnel non commerçant, p. 3): transfers to pay business expenses, online payments for your business and, as an exception, a cash withdrawal for a business trip.
- Trader account (art. 7): paying for imported goods and services you need for your business, selling currency for dinars when you ask, transfers to another trader account in your name, and a few other listed operations.
If you close either account, your bank converts the balance into dinars (arts. 11 and 12).
A myth to drop. You may have read that the bank keeps 80% for imports and 20% for export promotion. The text doesn’t say that. Article 6 only lets traders move up to 20% of their earnings into an exporter account if they want to. Your bank doesn’t take or freeze anything.
Key points
- Declared project, money home on time: you keep 100% in foreign currency.
- Undeclared project or late repatriation: converted into dinars, for good.
- The “80/20 split” you see online is wrong.
Sources
- Instruction 06-2021 of 29 June 2021 on traders’ and professional non-traders’ foreign currency accounts, Banque d’Algérie: arts. 2, 4 and 6, p. 1; art. 7, p. 2; arts. 11 and 12, p. 3, original text read on 18 October 2026.
- Regulation 21-01 of 28 March 2021 amending Regulation 07-01, Banque d’Algérie: art. 2, new article 57, p. 2; art. 5, new article 67, p. 2, original text read on 18 October 2026.
- Regulation 26-02 of 23 July 2026, Banque d’Algérie, art. 2 rewriting article 61 of Regulation 07-01: Official Journal no. 58 of 12 August 2026, p. 28, read on 21 October 2026.