The foreign currency reserves of Algeria lost US$ 19.02 billion between 31 December 2014 and 31 March 2015, going from US$ 178.93 billion to US$ 159.918, announced the Algerian Central Bank on 14 July.

“The balance of payments deficit resulted from the external shock and the rise in the capital account deficit, and the negative impact against the appreciating US dollar led to the official foreign currency reserves (except gold) decreasing to US$ 159.918 billion at the end of March 2015 against US$ 178.938 billion at end December 2014”, emphasised the Bank of Algeria in its memo on financial and monetary trends during the first quarter 2015.

The Central Bank stressed however that the current level of foreign reserves “remains satisfactory to face an external shock with a very low external debt which reached US$ 3.383 billion by end March 2015”. A financial position that many developed countries would envy.

Hydrocarbons represent 95% of the external revenues of Algeria, and contribute to 60% of the budget of the state.