Ahmed Ouyahia: Algerian govt to stop steelworks closure

ALGIERS – Algeria will prevent the closure of a steelworks at El Hadjar in the eastern region of Annaba which is 70-percent owned by the multinational Arcelor Mittal, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said Saturday.

 “I can say and I say emphatically, the Algerian state will not stand for the closure” of the plant, he told reporters.  A subsidiary of the multinational, which employs 7,000 there, had threatened to declare bankruptcy because of a funding crisis.  Ouyahia said Arcelor Mittal had asked for 14 billion dinars (140 million euros, $180 million) and had been granted 50 million euros but required guarantees before lending any more.

 The company was trying to put pressure on the government to get credit from the state-controlled BEA bank without providing guarantees, but the authorities would not be moved, he explained.

 Arcelor Mittal holds a 70 percent stake in the El Hadjar complex, with Algeria’s state-owned Sider controlling the remaining 30 percent.