Algeria faces struggle to attract investment

Published June 2, 2014 3:26pm ET



ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — With its oil riches a decade past their peak, Algeria is under pressure to overhaul and open its economy. But a new plan to attract foreign investment faces an uphill battle in a country that has a business environment described as one of the most hostile in the world.

Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said over the weekend that the government intends to encourage more foreign interest in the underperforming agriculture, industry and tourism sectors. Algeria still has a positive balance of trade and foreign reserves of $190 billion, but its energy production has been in decline since 2005 and analysts warn the country, which imports nearly everything, will eventually run out of money if it doesn’t change its ways.

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