Total Signs Up For Algeria Expansion
12 Oct, 2018
Economics & Finance
Algeria Halves Trade Deficit, Thanks To Higher Oil Prices
31 Aug 2018
Algeria posted a trade deficit of $3.25bn for the first seven months of 2018, less than half the $6.99bn figure for the same period a year earlier.
Algiers introduced swingeing measures at the start of 2018 in a bid to slash imports and thus the deficit. But in reality the lion’s share of the improvement in the figures is down to higher oil prices. Algeria’s Saharan Blend crude averaged $70.9/b for January-July 2018, up 39% year-on-year. Earnings from oil and gas were up by a much more modest 15% with export volumes for both continuing the fall seen last year (see tables).
Other than higher prices, something for which Algeria’s policy makers can hardly be credited, the key success in the trade figures is the near 50% rise in non-hydrocarbon revenue. That said, Algeria’s definition of ‘non hydrocarbons’ needs to be taken with a...
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