Trade Persists Between Morocco and Algeria Despite Diplomatic Tensions

Jeune Afrique informs us that commercial ties have not been severed despite the diplomatic crisis. "Business between Morocco and Algeria has always existed" we can read in its columns. The magazine reports that although contacts are virtually severed between the two governments, trade continues and remains, nevertheless, below its optimal level. Amounting to more than half a billion dollars per year, they involve heavyweights from the two economies.

In its development, the magazine cites a source from the Foreign Exchange Office who indicates that "Algeria is still the second commercial partner of the kingdom in Africa and it has just come out of our global Top 20". A regression, it is announced, as it was number one 5 years ago with estimated exchanges of nearly 8.5 billion dirhams (about 793 million euros, at the end of 2016).

According to provisional figures until the end of 2020, the volume of trade between the two countries reached 5.3 billion dirhams. A low amount representing less than 1% of the kingdom’s imports and exports. However, it should be noted that the variety of products exchanged indicates the potential for synergies never realized between the two countries.

Economic exchanges between the two neighbors are still dynamic and revolve around essential products on both markets. Moroccans buy dates and glassware, chemicals but especially fuels. In return, they ship to Algeria sheet iron or steel, coffee, fertilizers, but also textile products.

On the Moroccan side, a good part of the exports transit through international brands, mainly French, which manage to adapt to the Algerian business environment subject to repeated changes.

According to Jeune Afrique, neither Rabat nor Algiers want to comment on the possible tightening of regulations mentioned by the Algerian press. "As long as there is nothing official, we cannot take a stand," explains a chairman of a commission at the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM). For the latter, a possible economic rupture would have little impact on the kingdom, the same source specifies.