(+) Strong external and fiscal position
Thanks to recurrent large hydrocarbon-based trade surpluses, Algiers has accumulated large foreign exchange reserves (about USD200bn) and fiscal savings (about USD 70bn) that boost its resilience against external and domestic shocks.
(-) Narrow economic base centered around the hydrocarbon sector
Due to its dependence on the hydrocarbon sector, which generates about 40% of GDP and 97% of exports, Algier’s economy is strongly exposed to a fall in oil and gas prices. Moreover, export destinations are hardly diversified, as most exports go to the euro area.
(-) Business climate not conducive to private sector growth
Algier’s economy is dominated by the public sector, which redistributes hydrocarbon revenues via subsidized prices, welfare programs and employment opportunities. The private sector is small and suffers from outdated regulation, bureaucracy and weak competitiveness.
Risk Assessment
Algiers development rate backed off slightly in 2016. Regardless of the fall in the nominal
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Despite political setbacks, the country has been thriving economically due to it’s humongous amounts of natural resources. The city is rich in petroleum and natural gas, which allows it to grow in today’s economy with it’s high demands for oil as transportation fuel. Algier’s economic strength comes in as a source of the world’s oil and a growing economic power in Africa due to a recent industrial revolution. However, aside from fossil fuels and mining, the city has no other industries that serves as a backup if the petroleum industry experiences a period of low demand. In the past, during times of decreased oil prices, Algiers has suffered tremendously from virtually zero national income. Such economic risk is certainly a weakness of Algier’s one-dimensional economy, for it is too dependent on one industry to be able to achieve a reasonable level of
Another reason for increasing its agricultural sector is to end Algeria’s dependence on imports. In 1962, when Algeria gained its independence from France, the economy was primarily based on agriculture. In the last 40 years, other industries have eclipsed the importance of farming; the main industry being crude oil (Worldmark Encyclopedia). Algeria currently imports almost half of the food it consumes, and it is the world’s fifth largest importer of wheat (Reuters). However, steps have been recently made to reverse this trend. In August of this year, the ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development launched a device to support the promotion of water-saving irrigation systems (ProQuest Newsstand/Algeria Press Service). Algeria’s agricultural production growth rate also exceeded 10% in the 2010-2011 season (Embassy of Algeria). Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Rachid Benaissa also stressed the importance of boosting agriculture. “We should make sure agriculture techniques and skills are applied more widely to achieve profitability and to make the sector’s modernization everyone’s concern” (ProQuest Newsstand/Algeria Press Service). Changes have also been emerging in fishing. Due to its location on
Djibouti has few natural resources and little industry; therefore, it is heavily dependent on foreign assistance to help support its balance of payments and to finance development projects. (“The World Factbook,” 2011). The
Dominated by agriculture grown for export markets since colonial times, the economy of this West African nation is beginning to diversify (Michael Radu). According to statistics provided by the International Monetary Fund, in 2006 revenues from oil and refined products surpassed earnings from the nation’s biggest cash crop, cocoa (African Studies Center). The government in 2011, predicted that the nation’s biggest source of wealth would be petroleum resources. Currently more than 30 international mining companies are mining and exploring reserves of gold. Political stability will determine is multinational energy and mining companies can assist with bringing gold, natural gas, diamonds, nickel, oil, and other natural resources. Foreign investments have slowed down due to political instability, which contributed to the country’s initial financial success. Economic growth has come to a standstill. Although the GDP growth rate improved from about 2% in 2008 to 4% in 2009–2011, per capita income has continuously dropped since 1999, with a slight improvement in 2009–2010 (Central Intelligence
In this text, I concern myself with the contents of two articles based on recent microeconomics issues. During the last two months, the price of gas in the U.S. has been on an upward trend. Taking into consideration recent happenings on the international scene, this trend could have been triggered by many different factors. The articles I make use of in this case discuss the rising oil and gas prices.
The Chad Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project is one of the largest investments in the private sector in Africa that costs approximately US$3.7 billion. The project is being funded by the World Bank and the International Financial Corporation. The involvement of these two major financial institutions is a demonstration of the rationale that the project will generate revenue that will enable the Chad and Cameroonian governments to invest more in programs that focus on reducing poverty like rural employment, education, and health. The involvement of the International Financial Corporation will be geared towards accomplishing three major roles. These are long-term financing, stabilizing role, and uplifting the quality and standard of mitigation plans and environmental assessments.
The oil-rich Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, located on the northern coast of South America, was for many decades considered among the wealthiest nations in the entire continent. While having the largest proven oil reserves in the world has often proved a tremendous boon for Venezuela, the very black gold that has been the cause of its success has also proven to repeatedly be its kryptonite. Over half of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product stems from petroleum exports – which equates to approximately 95% of total exports. It is really not too hard to imagine what drastic consequences shifts in global oil prices could have on the economy.
“Algeria holds the eleventh-largest reserves of natural gas in the world and the second largest in Africa. Gas is supplied either through several pipelines or as Liqued Natural Gas (LNG). It is also estimated to have the third largest recoverable shale gas deposits after China and Argentina” (Reinforcing Dictatorships, 2014). The country is an OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) member and stands as the 15th largest extractor of crude oil in the world. Natural gas and oil account for almost all of Algeria’s total primary energy consumption (Reinforcing Dictatorships, 2014). North Africa is one of the EU’s most reliant and important partners. The relationship between the Maghreb countries and Europe (in particular Italy, France and Spain) has multiple branches including: trade and investment, regional stability and cultural exchanges (European Union External Action, 2016). The tie between Europe and North African countries, in particular with the Maghreb was strengthened through multiple historical events. With recent events going on in regards to Russia and the world the EU is seeking to lower their energy dependency from Russia and divert it somewhere else. Algerians recognize that Algeria has consistently maintained high levels of trade with France with goods such as oil, gas, or agricultural goods.
Oil has often been referred to as any economy’s lifeblood. Although this is an overemphasis, oil has been the key, nonhuman resource of the economy throughout the largest part of the 20th century. In the book “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, And Power” by Daniel Yergin, the author illustrates the political, societal, economic, and geo-strategic importance of this product.
Heterogeneous catalysts are extensively used in the chemical or oil industries to purify and upgrade various feeds and to improve process efficiency, commonly consisting of metals supported on porous materials like alumina or silica. During operations, these catalysts deactivate with its periodical use [1], through structural changes, poisoning, or the deposition of external materials, and are sent to on-site or off-site regeneration plants. However, the regeneration of spent catalysts is only possible in a limited number of catalytic systems and can only be carried out a few times. Thus, when regeneration is not possible because the catalyst can no longer perform its original duty, is referred to as “spent catalyst”, and is considered a solid waste.
Second largest country in Africa, tenth largest country in the world, diverse culture extending from the Mediterranean coast to the dunes of the Sahara Desert...Algeria. Even with its massive size the current status of Algeria’s economy is quivering in the lofty winds of the Tell Atlas Mountains. The economy tends to remain dominated by the state, which is accordingly a legacy of the country’s socialist post-independence development model. Hydrocarbons are the backbone for Algeria, accounting for 60% of budget revenues, 30% GDP, and 95% of export earnings. Reviewing the last five years we see the government halting privatization of state-owned industries, and increasing the restrictions of imports and foreign involvement. Algeria’s
Algeria’s history of producing gas isn’t extremely long, but it is very productive and beneficial for its economy and the economy of Africa, as well as Europe. Covering an area of around 2,382 thousand square kilometers, the Republic of Algeria is, territorially, OPEC’s largest Member Country and the largest country in Africa. It is situated in the north of the continent, and shares borders with Morocco, the Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya and Tunisia. To the north is the Mediterranean Sea. Algeria was colonized by France as far back as 1830 under the reign of Charles X. Algeria gained political independence in 1962, just four years after it began to produce natural gas. Their colonial struggle lasted eight years and cost the lives of one million Algerians, out of a population of nine million Arabs and Berbers. (A berber is a group of people in Algeria that are settled farmers or migrant workers.)
For most of the people, conditions are difficult and desperate. Chronic food shortages are widespread, and starvation levels among young children are high (Ruralpoverty.org). Chad fairs poorly with regard to the four generic factors of production. As much of Chad is positioned within the hot and dry Sahara Desert made up of barren land, most of the country is a limiting resource. Natural resources are limited and or under developed. As there is very little manufacturing, there is little improvement in improving production processes for turning natural resources into consumer goods. The labor pool is small, young and uneducated. 80% of the workforce is employed in labor intensive farming. Just 20% of the workforce is employed in the higher skilled areas of manufacturing and providing technical services (CIA.gov). Much of Chad’s workforce is one dimensional and not able to be flexible enough to move to other areas as training is limited and the education system is almost non-existent. Regarding capital, like other countries in poverty lacking in natural resources, Chad must import goods and is reliant on on foreign aid. Investors are frightened by the challenging business climate in Chad. In 2012, Chad was ranked last in the world in ease of doing business by the World Bank. Entrepreneurship is present in Chad, however, most are black market businesses that feed on governmental bureaucracy and corruption. Very few entrepreneurs
Djibouti, a small African country located at the forefront of the Suez Canal, has a economy and employment sector that heavily relies on its ports. (BBC, Country Profile) Of the 800,000 population of Djibouti, approximately 42 percent of those people are categorized as below the poverty line. In addition the economy has been at a stagnant growth at around three percent. The economy for the past decade or so has a GDP that is compromised of almost 80 percent related to the service industry. This has subsequently led to a crippled economy that is barred with enormous costs related to labor and small productivity rates. There is also a huge gender gap with regard to
For example, Shell Oil, an MNC (Multi National Corporation), extracted 50% of Nigeria’s yearly crude output, and 14% of its own output from the Niger delta region (The Changing Nature of Third World Exploitation, 1995). Though a large number of the local populace was recruited by Shell to serve as the basic labor force, there has been no change in the deplorable conditions the locals were living in. Over a period of 15 years, due to massive and widespread oil spills, heavy land degradation of the alluvial soil has taken place. The locals, who come from an agriculture based society, have in effect, been deprived of their ancestral way of life, their heritage, all due to the greed driven actions of the partly
Key sectors of the economy include agriculture, tourism, phosphates, textiles, apparel, and subcomponents. The gross saving in Morocco decline from year 1990 until 1995 and reached 21.08% at the year end of 1995. Next, the figure 1 given between year 1996 – 2009 appear to only stable movement and roughly at 28.61% gross saving.