Algeria Foreign Reserves Decline

Algeria’s foreign currency reserves shrunk $7.3 billion in the first five months of 2018 despite soaring oil prices. The drop, analysts said, was due to increased defense spending and the appreciation of the US dollar, which caused the stock of foreign currencies to decline, Reuters reported. Last December, Algeria’s reserves stood at $97.3 billion but totaled $90 billion by the end of May, Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia announced. He said reserves were expected to decline to $85 billion by the end of the year “due to import bills of goods and services”. Ouyahia urged the country to stop reserves from declining, cautioning that oil and gas prices were likely to fall in the future. Oil and gas exports account for more than 95% of Algeria’s foreign currency earnings. Oil prices went up their largest amount in nearly two years after some of the world’s major oil producers agreed to boost crude production less than many market analysts and investors expected.