Country Guides

Country Guide

Algeria

Learn more about the business climate in Algeria, including the political, economic, and social landscape.

Our Country Guides are available in two downloadable formats – a full-length, in-depth Doing Business In guide and a tear sheet, which provides a more concise country overview. Please see below for detail.

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Business in Algeria

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OVERVIEW

As a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa, Algeria has a Mediterranean coastline of more than 1,200 km, with 6,734 km of land bordering seven countries and territories: Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia, and the Western Sahara.

The official languages of Algeria are Arabic and Tamazight (Berber). The French language is widely spoken, especially in the business environment.

Algeria, as a leading African producer of hydrocarbons, ranks first in Africa in gas production with proven oil reserves of 12.2bn barrels and proven gas reserves of 4.5trn cu meters. Algeria has also large reserves of phosphates, proven deposits of iron ore, gold, zinc, copper and uranium.

Algeria has signed several international agreements related to international registration of marks, patent cooperation and intellectual property. Several laws govern the protection of trademarks and patents.

The Algerian banking market is characterized by the strong presence of the public sector. The banking system is composed of the Central Bank (Bank of Algeria), 17 commercial banks (six state owned banks and 11 private banks), and 10 other financial institutions.

There are a few statutory exchange restrictions exercised by Bank of Algeria, due to the high dependence from export resources, which highly depends on oil and gas exports (97%).

All transactions incurred in Algeria shall be paid in Algerian dinars (DZD), while Algerian corporate entities have access to foreign currencies to pay their import of goods and services. Service contracts are subject to a pre-registration, prior to their start of performance. The pre-registration is also extended to import goods and equipment.