Algeria

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Country summary

Capital

Algiers

Borders

Libya 982 km, Mali 1,376 km, Mauritania 463 km, Morocco 1,559 km, Niger 956 km, Tunisia 965 km, Western Sahara 42 km

Government type

republic

Population

34,178,188 (July 2010 est.)[1]

Population growth

1.196% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

74.02 years[1]

Unemployment

10.2% (2009 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

105[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

111[3]

Doing Business ranking

136[4]


After more than a century of rule by France, Algerians fought through much of the 1950s to achieve independence in 1962. Algeria's primary political party, the National Liberation Front (FLN), has dominated politics ever since. Many Algerians in the subsequent generation were not satisfied, however, and moved to counter the FLN's centrality in Algerian politics. The surprising first round success of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in the December 1991 balloting spurred the Algerian army to intervene and postpone the second round of elections to prevent what the secular elite feared would be an extremist-led government from assuming power. The army began a crackdown on the FIS that spurred FIS supporters to begin attacking government targets. The government later allowed elections featuring pro-government and moderate religious-based parties, but this did not appease the activists who progressively widened their attacks. The fighting escalated into an insurgency, which saw intense fighting between 1992-98 resulting in over 100,000 deaths - many attributed to indiscriminate massacres of villagers by extremists. The government gained the upper hand by the late-1990s and FIS's armed wing, the Islamic Salvation Army, disbanded in January 2000. Abdelaziz BOUTEFLIKA, with the backing of the military, won the presidency in 1999 in an election widely viewed as fraudulent and was reelected in a landslide victory in 2004. BOUTEFLIKA was overwhelmingly reelected to a third term in 2009 after the government amended the constitution in 2008 to remove presidential term limits. Longstanding problems continue to face BOUTEFLIKA, including large-scale unemployment, a shortage of housing, unreliable electrical and water supplies, government inefficiencies and corruption, and the continuing activities of extremist militants. The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in 2006 merged with al-Qai'da to form al-Qai'da in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb, which has launched an ongoing series of kidnappings and bombings - including high-profile, mass-casualty suicide attacks targeting the Algerian Government and Western interests.[1]

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: Algerian dinar (ISO code: DZD)
  • Central bank discount rate: 4% (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: 8% (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $60.91 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $30.36 billion (31 December 2008)[1]

Notable events:

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[7] 48 641 54 790 55 181 57 053 68 019 85 014 102 339 116 459 136 034 166 545
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[8] 80.498 62.068 56.513 47.091
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[9] 43.437 39.864 48.452
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[10] 17.458 18.507 23.861
Debt to revenue (years)

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Algeria", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-10-01.
  2. ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Algeria", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-01.
  3. ↑ Transparency International. "Algeria", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-10-01.
  4. ↑ Doing Business. "Algeria", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-10-01.
  5. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 348. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-19.
  6. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart. "This Time is Different Chartbook: Country Histories on Debt, Default, and Financial Crises" (pdf), March 3, 2010, p. 14. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-19.
  7. ↑ World Bank. "Algeria: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01.
  8. ↑ World Bank. "Algeria: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01.
  9. ↑ World Bank. "Algeria: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01.
  10. ↑ World Bank. "Algeria: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-10-01.

Links

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