The Algerian government revealed that the Algerian economy contracted by 3.9 percent during the first quarter of this year after growing by 1.3 percent during the same period of 2019, due to public isolation measures caused by the outbreak of the Coronavirus and the poor performance of the oil and biogas sector.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the energy sector contracted by 13.4 percent in the first three months of 2020, almost double the contraction that reached 7.1 percent a year ago.
The oil and gas sector contributes to about 60 percent of Algeria's budget and 93 percent of total export earnings. Energy revenues decreased by 26 percent in the first three months of this year due to lower production and exports, as well as lower global oil prices due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, which affected global demand.
Algeria expects oil and gas revenues to drop to 23 billion dollars in the current year 2020, compared to 33 billion dollars last year 2019. This increased financial pressure, which prompted the government to reduce public spending and postpone investment projects planned for implementation this year in key sectors, including energy.
Source (The New Arab Newspaper, Edited)
