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Analysis

Rising US shale production impacts African oil and gas exporters
OBG
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The single-largest structural shift in the global energy market over the past decade has been the emergence of shale gas and oil in the US. The beginning of production in states like Texas, North Dakota and Pennsylvania has reduced imports for one of the world’s largest energy consumers. This has had significant impacts for large-scale producers from Africa, in particular, who are seeing their trans-Atlantic…

Analysis

Insurance
OBG
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The Company Alliance Assurances is a joint stock company founded in December 2004 by a consortium of Algerian investors with an initial capital of AD500m (€4.7m); however, the company did not officially begin operations until 2006. In 2007, Alliance Assurances inaugurated a commercial development programme, which led to a 178% increase in revenues from 2006. In the service of this programme, the…

Analysis

The industry is working to improve financing options
OBG
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Access to finance can be difficult in any emerging market, as indicated by low levels of financial intermediation in the Middle East and Africa, and Algeria is no exception. For small businesses and households, which often face the greatest challenges in accessing credit, lending levels are low in Algeria, even by regional standards. Yet credit to the private sector has been growing, and the authorities…

Analysis

Food & beverage
OBG
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The Company NCA Rouiba was created in 1966 and began its activities with the production of canned food. Twenty years later the company began producing fruit-based beverages before expanding operations to ultra-high temperature processed milk in 2004. In 2005 the company opened up its capital to a foreign investment fund, AfricInvest, and implemented a programme of upgrades and development. In 2007…

Analysis

A new industrial zone in El Kseur advances the diversification agenda
OBG
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The choice of Béjaïa as the location for a new petrochemicals plant and industrial zone was finalised in January 2014, a step forward for the government’s plan to invest in downstream energy as part of its broader goal of diversifying the economy. In that month, Hamou Ahmed Touhami, the governor of Béjaïa, a province on the coast east of Algiers, announced that the town of El Kseur had been selected…

Analysis

Strong automotive sales bolster local industry
OBG
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Authorities have zeroed in on the automotive industry in their bid to re-industrialise the Algerian economy and reduce import spending. Automotive sales have boomed in recent years and, despite a slowdown in late 2013 and 2014, strong demand for personal vehicles among Algeria’s 38.8m people will continue to drive sector growth. Recent state investments in industrial and transport infrastructure…

Analysis

Local pharmaceuticals manufacturing is set to expand in the near term
OBG
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Pharmaceuticals production capacity in Algeria will increase noticeably in the next few years as several new plants come on-line. Sector authorities have been working to boost domestic output of basic medications for the last decade, and in 2011 the Ministry of Health announced a goal of meeting 70% of demand for pharmaceuticals through local production. The actual figure today is about 40%, estimates…

Analysis

New legislation on mining is designed to encourage foreign partners
OBG
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Hydrocarbons have long served as the backbone of Algeria’s economy, but in the past year there has been a push to encourage activity in other extractive industries, following the introduction of new legislation aimed at increasing mineral production. The text of the new mining bill, which was approved by the National Assembly and the upper house in late January 2014, is seen as crucial to helping…

Analysis

Public and private investments aim to make the country self-sufficient in cement
OBG
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Algeria continues to have a significant gap between cement demand and production capabilities. Both the state and private operators have been increasing domestic capacity. But amidst a nationwide effort to develop infrastructure, a housing programme prioritised by the government to reduce the housing gap and an economic dynamism that is galvanising private construction across major urban centres, local…

Analysis

Building sufficient affordable housing remains a major challenge
OBG
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With a growing and young population and an urbanisation rate approaching 70%, Algeria’s housing deficit is a problem that has been at the centre of government policy for several years. The country’s current housing gap is estimated to be 1.2m homes, according to figures published by the South Africa-based organisation Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa ( CAHFA) in its Housing Finance…