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Algeria
Trade Account
The government's measures to encourage the growth of privatesector
trade, combined with fluctuating oil prices, have resulted in
an erratic trade account pattern, marked mostly by a chronic deficit
followed by ups and downs of surplus. The foreign trade deficit
of the 1960s was not reversed until 1973-74. The world oil price
boom then overturned Algeria's traditional dependence on exports
of vegetables, citrus fruit, wine, tobacco, iron ore, and phosphates;
instead Algeria substituted massive hydrocarbon exports. However,
the authorities continued to retain control over the trade budget
process, which allowed them to cut imports in 1991 to US$8.2 billion
to meet the IMF's requirements for a standby agreement. The trade
balance registered a healthy surplus of almost US$1.6 billion
in the first half of 1991. In April 1991, the government introduced
a major liberalization of the import system by eliminating the
administrative allocation of hard currency for imports at the
official exchange rate. Private firms were allowed to join the
ranks of state-owned enterprises in purchasing foreign goods directly
from overseas markets.
Data as of December 1993
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