Algerian government sticks to 51/49 per cent legal rule on foreign investments

Echorouk has learnt from reliable sources that the brand-new code of investments will be tabled next Wednesday (June 26th) before the government council to be chaired by Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal.

The new text which will be submitted by the Minister of Industry, small and medium-sized enterprises and the promotion of investment, Cherif Rahmani, is eagerly awaited by the business circles in Algeria and foreign investors alike.

According to sources close to the relevant file, the new text is designed to provide more coherence and legibility to the legal documents governing the flow of investments in Algeria notably those coming from foreign partners.

As the investment code has witnessed no alteration since 2001, the Algerian government will be endeavouring, through this revision, to reassure those foreign investors who have been shunning Algeria over the past few years.

The same sources added that the amended investment code would no longer control the potential investor but would rather accompany him in his endeavour.

This text will however see no modification to the 51/49 per cent rule on foreign investment, even though the government does not exclude a revamping of the law for the benefit of the small and medium-sized enterprises in Algeria; according to the same sources.