Algeria and Spain have been in a political crisis since last March, with the main economic consequence being the freezing of trade between the two countries in June.
Almost six months later, things have not changed. Trade between the two countries remains limited to the sole sale of Algerian oil and gas.
Before the crisis, hydrocarbon exports made up half of the trade between Algeria and Spain, estimated at $6.5 billion (2021 figures).
The serious quarrel between Algiers and Madrid followed the decision of the Spanish government to radically change its position on the question of Western Sahara by supporting the Moroccan autonomy plan.
Algeria reacted by taking several measures, including suspending the 20-year-old Algerian-Spanish Friendship Treaty and freezing foreign trade operations between the two countries, allowing only the continuation of exports of hydrocarbons.
This last measure has particularly hurt Spanish operators, which has earned strong criticism from the economic world and the political opposition to the president of the socialist government, Pedro Sanchez.
Between June and September, Spain suffered a shortfall of 487 million euros compared to the same period of 2021 when its companies had shipped 625 million goods to Algeria. Figures are from the Spanish Ministry of Commerce.
Only a few companies manage to circumvent the blockage by transiting Spanish products through other countries, with however additional costs.
Even if the Spaniards continue to receive oil, and especially Algerian gas, they nevertheless pay more for it after the decision of the Algerian company Sonatrach to renegotiate the tariffs applied to long-term contracts.
The crisis with Spain: Algerian companies impacted
The institution of the freezing measure has not been the subject of official communication from the Algerian authorities. It was contained in a note to commercial banks from the Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (Abel).
The same association notified the banks at the end of July of the lifting of the blockage, but it was disavowed by a dispatch from the official APS agency.
Since then, “it’s the status quo”, said in a statement to TSA the president of the Algerian-Spanish Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIAE), Djamal-Eddine Bouabdallah.
“It’s completely freezing, there was not the slightest opening. We heard in July that the Abef had again authorized exchanges between Algeria and Spain and authorized the banks to open direct debits, but this was ultimately denied by the APS. Since then, there has been nothing at all, absolutely nothing,” he says.
Bouabdallah does not give a precise figure, but confirms that the level of trade between Algeria and Spain has “significantly dropped” and that “many sectors have been affected”.
He cites engineering, spare parts, chemicals, ” particularly for desalination plants “, the food industry, ” like Jumbo, which is a Spanish company based in Algeria “, ceramics ” which has also come to a complete halt ”, fattening beef…
Many Spanish companies active in these sectors and making part of their turnover in Algeria have been penalized by the blockage, which has also had consequences for Algerian companies.
Djamal-Eddine Bouabdallah even assures that “those who are stuck are much more the Algerian companies which imported their inputs from Spain”.
