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Algeria
SERVICES
Banking
The banking sector was a major facilitator of investment. The
magnitude of the government's banking reforms can best be understood
by comparing the current system with that of the French colonial
era. Under the French, most of Algeria's banks were branches of
French banks; after independence they sold out or were nationalized.
The Central Bank of Algeria was established in January 1963, to
replace the Colonial Bank of Algeria and act as the government's
agent in financial transactions, currency issue, and other central
bank functions. In 1971 the Central Bank assumed the role of supervising
the country's three major commercial banks, the most important
of which was the National Bank of Algeria (Banque Nationale d'Algérie),
which served both the private and public sectors and held the
bulk of total bank deposits. The other two, the Foreign Bank of
Algeria (Banque Extérieure d'Algérie) and the Popular Credit of
Algeria (Crédit Populaire d'Algérie) were more sector oriented,
with the former handling energy and foreign trade and the latter
financing smaller sectors.
The government's economic development and decentralization policies
of the 1980s resulted in the establishment of more specialized
financial institutions. The Agriculture and Rural Development
Bank (Banque de l'Agriculture et du Développement Rural) provided
loans to the farming and food processing industries. The National
Fund for Provident Savings (Caisse Nationale d'Épargne et de Prévoyance)
furnished savings and housing loans. The Bank of Manufacturing
and Services (Banque des Industries de Transformation et des Services)
dealt with the service sector and light industries. The Bank of
Local Development (Banque de Développement Local) was formed in
1985 to finance communal development projects. The Algerian Development
Bank (Banque Algérienne de Développement) was created in 1963
to provide long-term (ten- to twenty-year) loans.
Data as of December 1993
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