North Africa’s Economy
Algeria: Kia to suspend car assembly in Algeria
Algiers, May 15, 2020 - South Korean carmaker Kia will shut down its assembly line in Algeria from Sunday due to supply chain disruptions after authorities imposed a ban on the import of spare parts. "Work will be interrupted from May 17" at the factory in the town of...
Algeria: Sonatrach implicated in tainted fuel export to Lebanon
Beirut, May 13, 2020 - A Lebanese prosecutor on Wednesday pressed charges against 12 people including government officials over a delivery of suspect fuel through an Algerian oil company, state media said. The "tainted fuel" case made headlines in March when Lebanon...
Economy: Nigeria’s collapsing revenues
Abuja, May 5, 2020 - Oil-rich Nigeria is losing more than 80 percent of its revenue due to plummeting oil prices and the coronavirus epidemic, officials said on Tuesday. Nigeria depends on crude oil sales for 70 percent of government revenue and 90 percent of foreign...
Morocco: After launching spy app, Morocco deploys surveillance drones
Rabat, May 6, 2020 - Morocco has rapidly expanded its fleet of drones as it battles the coronavirus pandemic, deploying them for aerial surveillance, public service announcements and sanitisation. "This is a real craze. In just weeks, demand has tripled in Morocco and...
Algeria announces deeper spending cuts but says minimum wage up a bit
The Algerian government decided Sunday to reduce the state budget by half due to a financial crisis caused by the global collapse in oil prices and worldwide coronavirus lockdowns. The government has decided to reduce the budget by "50 percent" for this year,...
Africa: How to pay a country’s debt with cows
Angola has received a herd of more than 1,000 cattle from Chad, a government official said Monday, the latest shipment of an unusual debt repayment deal. The landlocked central African country, impoverished despite its oil revenues, contracted a $100 million...
Algeria: Oil prices, virus, instability put Algeria on edge
Algiers, April 12, 2020 (By Amal Belalloufi with Philippe Agret in Tunis) - Algeria faces economic and social turmoil if crude prices continue to collapse, experts have warned, with the oil-dependent country reeling from a year of popular protests, political turmoil...
Tunisia gets emergency loan from the IMF
April 10, 2020 - The International Monetary Fund on Friday approved a $745 million emergency loan for Tunisia as it continues to roll out an unprecedented number of aid packages to countries battling the coronavirus. "These resources will help address urgent fiscal...
Food supply: The struggle to maintain normalcy in time of pandemic
Algiers, April 9, 2020 (By Abdellah Cheballah) - From an acute shortage of regional staple couscous to a surge of confidence tricks and counterfeiting, authorities in North Africa have been busy tackling coronavirus challenges that go beyond healthcare. For the past...
Morocco to get IMF loan to soften impact of coronavirus on the economy
Rabat, April 8, 2020 - Morocco on Wednesday announced it has started to draw on a $3-billion credit line from the International Monetary Fund to offset a contraction of its economy because of the coronavirus pandemic. The five-year loan has a grace period of three...