Bouchouareb: “Algeria isn’t in need of foreign borrowing for the time being”

Mr. Abdesslam Bouchouareb, Minister of Industry and Mines, said Thursday in Algiers, that Algeria is not in need of resorting to external borrowing for the time being.

He stated to this effect that the current foreign reserves’ balance of the country is rather stable for the moment, thus excluding the contingency of having recourse to foreign borrowing, adding that Algeria has now the capacity to finance the scheduled major developments projects in various sectors of activity as part of the ongoing efforts aimed at the diversification of the national economy to make it far less dependent on hydrocarbons’ revenues.

With regard to Algeria-Saudi Arabia cooperation prospects, Mr Bouchouareb said that it is important to remove any obstacles that may arise in the achievement of the projects selected between the economic operators of Algeria and Saudi Arabia.

The eight memoranda of understanding signed on Wednesday between Algerian and Saudi companies must have a positive impact on bilateral economic cooperation, Mr. Bouchouareb said at the close Thursday of the 12th session of the Algerian-Saudi Joint Commission before hailing “the seriousness of the work of the experts in charge of the preparation of this session”.

On Wednesday, several Algerian and Saudi companies signed 8 memoranda of understanding and several economic partnership accords covering various investment areas during a joint business council meeting.

These agreements concern the phosphate processing industry, the production of natural fertilizers and paper, the management of medical structures, hotel services and maintenance.

According to Mr Bouchouareb, the bilateral joint committee examined ways of further boosting Algerian-Saudi cooperation in such fields as trade, finance, customs, planning, foresight, tourism and statistics.