Though all oil and gas producers have seen their revenue collapse this year, Algeria has fared worse than most. Its economy is one of the least diversified, even within Opec, and as well as prices more than halving, soaring domestic demand and aging fields mean oil and gas export volumes have also slumped. The IEA’s latest long-term projections indicate more bad news to come (see story: Algeria: Present Bad, IEA Figures Indicate Future May Be Worse).
With the crash in oil prices, Algeria’s trade balance in 2015 has deteriorated dramatically. Algeria posted a negative trade balance of $10.83bn in the first 10 months of 2015, compared to a surplus of $4.29bn in the same period of 2014, according to statistics from Algerian customs. Extrapolating the Jan-October figures to 2015 as a whole gives hydrocarbon export revenue of $36.4bn, down from $60.3bn for 2014 and an all-time record trade deficit of $13bn. (CONTINUED - 1228 WORDS)
