Algeria: Reactivation of “AADL” housing program restrains vehicle market

Algeria vehicles imports recorded in 2013, a slump of 3.5 % in value and 8.4 % in their number, an unprecedented contingency since 2004, according to official statistics issued on Sunday by the computer and statistics center of the Algerian customs (CNIS).

The same sources said that financial amount of vehicles’ imports reached over 7.33 billion US dollars against 7.60 billion US dollars in 2012 that is a slump of 3.54 %, adding that the number of imported vehicles was set at 554.269 units in 2013 against 605.312 units in 2012.

This decrease in car imports concerned the car-dealers operating in Algeria as well as private individuals, according to the CNIS.

According to the center’s latest figures, the forty or so car-dealers established in Algeria imported a total of 529.976 vehicles in 2013 against 577.637 vehicles in the previous year, that is a slump of 8.25 % for a financial value of about 6.65 billion US dollars against 6.89 billion USD, also a drop estimated at 3.60 %.

The vehicles’ imports by private individuals also witnessed the same decreasing trend in their overall number and value.

Analysts argued that this new situation could be construed by a fall in the demand added to the high level of the stocks and last but not least, to a shift from the household expenses to the real-estate market especially after the recent reactivation by the relevant authorities of the “AADL” housing program essentially destined to middle-income earners from among large segments of the Algerian population.