Doing business in Algeria

Potentially Algeria can be a great place to start a business. However there are also a lot of headaches involved. There are a number of rules in place that will definitely be a challenge to most foreign investors. It is important to make sure that you understand what these rules are and that you can still do profitable business within these rules. Doing business in Algeria can be a difficult experience so you will need to determine if the end result will be worth it.

There are good reasons that you might want to do business in Algeria, it has a strong economy that has shown strong growth. Algeria is a country of about thirty five million inhabitants in Northern Africa. The countries economy is largely based on oil production; Algeria is a major oil producer. This has given the country a strong economy with good prospects for growth as the price of oil continues to increase. It also creates a lot of opportunity to do business as the government attempts to improve the infrastructure. For the most part Algeria will need to depend on foreign companies for most of this work.

Despite the strong growth prospects in Algeria there are some things that make it difficult to do business in Algeria. The biggest issue is that the country is one of the very few countries in the world that is not a member of the WTO. That means that doing business in Algeria can be a frustrating experience that is going to take a lot of patience. There are also issues with customs in Algeria and that tends to result in long delays. It is recommended that if you are going to do business in Algeria that you make a long term commitment since it is not really practical to make a quick buck in Algeria.

In recent years the government of Algeria has created a number of laws intended to help business in Algeria. These laws are controversial since they tend to discourage foreign investment in the country. The most important law is the one that requires that any investment be fifty one percent owned by an Algerian investor. All foreign investment must also show a favorable balance in foreign exchange for the duration of the project. On the other hand there are tax breaks for companies that favor Algerian goods and labor.

There are also laws regarding importing items into Algeria that will affect your business. The main one is that an Algerian national must own thirty percent of the capital of any import deal. The other big one is that before you can start business you will need to open an account at an Algerian bank and run your import operations through that bank. There are a lot of other rules that foreign investors may not be used to so it is important to do your research before you decide to do business in Algeria.