Algeria loses $8 billion of exchange reserve due to oil crisis

The commissioner of the Algeria bank Mohamed Lakssassi Thursday held a meeting with bank general directors and ordered them to respect their duties about foreign trade transactions and exchange. This comes as figures show that Algeria lost $8 billion from its exchange reserves in 2014.

Lakssassi said that importing operations will not be under the surveillance of the Central Bank only but other ministries.

The Algerian commerce ministry formed working teams to ensure good management of foreign trade and keep watch on all the foreign trade-related transactions.

The meeting comes as the exchange reserves have been decreasing since 2014 due to oil prices fall.

In the end of March, exchange reserves reached $195 billion but they went down to $185.27 billion in September.

In 2006, the exchange reserves increased by $20 billion. They went up from $77.8 billion in December 2006 to $110.2 billion in the end of 2007, then to $143.1 billion in the end of 2008, $147.2 billion in the end of 2009, $162.2 billion in the end of 2010, $182.2 billion in the end of 2011, $190.6 billion in the end of 2012 and $194 billion in the end of 2013.

Yet, the increase of imports and oil prices sharp fall led to the decrease of financial flows which feed the country’s exchange reserves.

Because of that, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika held a micro-cabinet meeting and assigned ministers to take necessary measures to diversify economy, rationalize imports and keep watch on foreign trade funding operations.