Algeria Economy

As part of steps to reduce the country’s economic reliance on oil and gas production, Algeria’s parliament in mid-July 2016 passed a law aimed at attracting new private sector investment by modifying the national investment promotion framework, which dates from 2001. The law is due to be implemented by the end of 2016. In keeping with this...

High international oil prices in the mid-2000s saw Algeria record large fiscal surpluses, peaking at 13.8% of GDP in 2006, according to IMF figures. This allowed the authorities to pay down the country’s debt and indeed to begin accumulating large fiscal savings in the years that followed, stored mainly in the oil savings fund, which is known...

Up to and including 2013, Algeria had registered a positive current account balance every year since 1999, including very large surpluses in some years. The indicator peaked at a figure of 24.7% of GDP in 2006, according to IMF figures. However, the balance was transformed into a deficit of AD1.38trn (€11.4bn), or 4.4% of GDP, in 2014, helped...

Hydrocarbons remain the mainstay of Algeria’s economy, although following the drop in oil prices since mid-2014, the government is hastening efforts to encourage investment in other sectors. The fiscal and current account deficits – both of which are relatively new phenomenon for Algeria – are expected to narrow as spending cuts, efforts to widen...

The largest economy in the Maghreb, Algeria is also the region’s wealthiest country in terms of purchasing power parity per capita. Hydrocarbons are the mainstay of economic activity; however, amid slowing production and exports, as well as the sharp drop in oil prices since mid-2014, the government is taking a range of measures to encourage...