In Figures… These Are Spain’s Losses Stemming From Its Crisis With Algeria

The last few months have shown the heavy economic impact that Spain has suffered as a result of the suspension of its exports to Algeria since last June, affecting more than 129,000 companies whose commercial relations with Algeria have been suspended, and a trade balance with a historic deficit in favor of Algeria of more than 6.5 billion euros.
According to the latest data from the Spanish Foreign Trade Institute “ICEX”, Spain’s sales to Algeria fell by about 93 percent last December, indicating that the export rate per month between June and December amounted to only 10.8 million euros, compared to a rate of 169 million euros between January and May 2022.
Contrary to this sharp decline in Spanish exports, Madrid’s imports from Algeria increased by 59%, according to the same authority and published by the newspaper “ABTH”, due to the hike in energy prices.
It is known that Algeria is the first supplier of gas to the Spanish market, in addition to a remarkable increase in Algerian oil sales to Madrid since last year, although it did not receive attention until recently, and ranked eighth in terms of black gold suppliers to this European country last February, with a market share of nearly 6 percent.
As an indication of the enormity of the losses suffered by the Spanish side as a result of a unilateral and one-sided step by its Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to support the Moroccan Makhzen’s proposal for a so-called autonomy as a solution to the Western Sahara issue, the data of the Institute of Foreign Trade indicate that a total of 129 thousand and 573 Spanish companies have stopped establishing commercial relations with Algeria, compared to 222,603 companies that concluded commercial deals with Algeria in 2021.
Among the consequences of the putschist and unilateral position of Prime Minister Sanchez, 8,934 Spanish exporters permanently stopped their activities in Algeria in 2022, according to the data of the same institute, noting that these exporters had “regular activity in Algeria”.
The crisis also cast a shadow on the trade deficit, which recorded a historic and unprecedented imbalance in favor of Algeria, based on the continued flow of Algerian exports (gas, oil and their derivatives) to Spain and an almost total halt to its sales in the opposite direction.
According to the Institute’s data, the bilateral trade deficit with Algeria reached an unprecedented figure of 6 billion and 575 million Euros, naturally in favor of Algeria.
According to the same source, companies affected by this situation are looking for ways to obtain financial support from the government, noting that the Spanish Export Insurance Company (CESCE) has created a special line of support for entrepreneurs, “including companies whose balance sheet has been negatively affected by the dispute” with Algeria, which will enjoy special treatment in terms of priority for its study.