Recovering oil prices and a loosening of the government’s purse strings have afforded Algeria some breathing room after a number of challenging years. However, as Africa’s most important gas exporter, it remains highly dependent on the hydrocarbons sector for the majority of its government revenue and almost the entirety of its exports. Despite efforts to encourage private sector development,…
En Français In collaboration with: With the import ban launched in 2016 having coincided with a drop in oil and gas prices, in early 2018 Algeria started to rethink it, with a view to improving the country’s finances and easing a challenging tax situation. In June the Parliament duly approved a measure replacing the ban on certain products with Customs duties. The 2014-17 period saw the effectiveness…
In English OBG Business Barometer: Sondage auprès des dirigeants des sociétés algériennes Copyright (c). Tous les droits sont réservés. Ce sondage a été conçu pour évaluer l’indice de confiance des dirigeants d’entreprise quant à la situation économique et les perspectives de développement au cours de la prochaine année. Contrairement à de nombreuses enquêtes, le baromètre…
In English En partenariat avec: Suite à l’effondrement des prix du pétrole en 2014 et 2015, l’Algérie a adopté dès l’année suivante un nouveau modèle de croissance axé sur la diversification économique. Cette stratégie a pour but de concilier plusieurs impératifs : l’amélioration du solde des finances publiques, la réduction du déséquilibre de la balance…
En Français On regional standardisation and leveraging the industry to embrace digitalisation How would you assess Algeria’s pharmaceuticals industry? HAISSAM CHRAITEH: The country has launched an ambitious strategy to develop domestic pharmaceuticals production. Both local companies and international players are already present in the country, producing pharmaceuticals to meet the rising demand…
Reaching a population of 42.3m by the end of 2018, Algeria is the second-largest country in North Africa after Egypt. The country is one of Africa’s most important producers of hydrocarbons and enjoys large reserves of shale oil and gas not commercially exploited. Although Algeria enjoys a relatively closed economy, it holds close trading links with its Mediterranean neighbours to the north, and
The rapid rate at which urban centres in Algeria are growing has put pressure on the country to develop an efficient and modern transport system. Although population growth rates have slowed slightly, from 2.2% in 2015 to 1.9% in 2017, the percentage of the population living in urban areas has risen steadily, from 72.1% in 2015 to 76% in 2018. Dealing with the increasing number of inhabitants…
Algeria has set ambitious targets for rail development, aiming to increase annual rail transport capacity to 17m tonnes of goods and 60m passengers by 2021. In 2017 annual capacity of cargo via rail reached 5m tonnes, while the number of passengers travelling via rail in the first 11 months of 2018 was 43m. Additionally, there are plans to extend the rail network from 4200 km in 2017 to 6500 km by…
Introduced to the market in 2016, 4G services have enjoyed significant expansion in Algeria, growing by 573% in 2017. As market competition drove down prices, 4G has been adopted by 9.87m subscribers as of end-2017, up from 1.46m subscribers a year earlier, according to the Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, which became the Regulatory Authority of Posts and Electronic Communications…
As ambitions to transition to some extent from an oil-driven economy to a tech-driven one, there is an effort to grow a culture of innovation. In January 2017 the Parliament adopted the orientation law for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), aimed at supporting the financing of start-ups and the development of an entrepreneurial culture. In addition to public initiatives,…
