Algeria Non-Oil Revenues Hit $2 bln, Imports Bill 40 bln in 2011, ALGEX

Algeria non-oil exports are expected to reach 2 billion US Dollars as by the end of 2011, according to figures revealed Thursday by the National Agency for Promoting Foreign Trade (ALGEX).

At the sidelines of a conference on European trade policy for the horizon of 2020, held Thursday in Algiers in coordination with the EU Commission in Algeria, Head of ALGEX, Ahmed Benin, told reporters that “Algeria’s non oil exports reached 1.7 US Dollars within the past 10 months, and are expected to hit 2 billion as by the end of the year.”

Mr Benin said “such an amount (2 billion USD) is still small, comparing to the soaring import bill of Algeria which is around 38 billion USD, and likely to peak 40 billion USD in the end of 2011.”

ALGEX officer indicated that “The potential agricultural and industrial tissue of the Algeria would permit to diversify the local production, and ultimately reach more important non hydrocarbon export revenues.”