Economic trends
Growth in Algeria has slowed down, in the face of the global economic crisis. In effect, despite the Algerian government's efforts to diversify the national economy, to a great extent it remains annuitant, based on the use and sale of its hydrocarbons. Meanwhile, the oil and gas prices have collapsed following the financial crisis and consequently Algerian exports have decreased significantly in value.
In order to promote the growth of the domestic market, the Algerian government has launched a major construction policy, namely in the sector of transport infrastructures. Today, this policy is criticized because of two reasons. The first being that at the time when this program was undertaken, the price of the oil barrel was very high. Current global market conditions have changed considerably and some observers question the suitability of this policy. More so because Algeria is running on a "negative multiplier", which means that the resources injected into the economy are much higher than the wealth generated.
The current unemployment rate in Algeria is officially at 8% but some maintain that it is closer to 20%. The GDP/ inhabitant was USD 4,600 in 2008. It should be noted that there is a large discrepancy between the urban and rural living conditions.
Main branches of industry
Agriculture contributes about 8% of the GDP and employs almost 25% of the active population. The main crops are wheat, barley, oats, citrus fruit, wine grapes, olives, tobacco and dates. Algeria produces a large quantity of cork and has a significant amount of livestock farming.
The oil and gas sector accounts for the majority of budgetary income, and almost all of export income. Algeria is the 2nd biggest gas exporter in the world. It is ranked 14th for its petroleum reserves and 7th for its gas reserves. The ores mined in big quantities are iron, lead, phosphate, uranium, zinc, salt and coal. The main activities of the manufacturing sector are industrial food processing, textile, chemical products, metals and construction materials.
The tertiary sector contributes about a third of the GDP.
International trade
Algerian exports have grown by 223%, between 2002 and 2008. This godsend is mainly due to hydrocarbon exports, which represent nearly 98% of the total exports and to the explosion of world prices. The logical consequence, given the opening up of the Algerian economy, is the parallel growth of imports (+133%). During this period, the trade balance has generated a significant surplus and Algeria now has foreign currency reserves of nearly USD 100 Billion. Unfortunately, the drop in global oil prices and the sustained levels of imports have threatened the Algerian trade balance in 2009.
The main trade partners of Algeria are the European Union, the NAFTA countries (Free Trade Agreement between United States, Canada, and Mexico) and China.
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