To reassure and seduce Chinese investors who have deserted the country since the political crisis of 2019, Algeria is ready for anything, absolutely anything. And the Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has just demonstrated this by instructing, we were able to learn from several concordant sources, a major Algerian state bank, namely the public bank BNA (National Bank of Algeria), of financier to the tune of 70% of an important market of 520 million USD which was granted to two Chinese companies by the Algerian hydrocarbon company Sonatrach.
This is the project to build Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether “MTBE” production facilities in the Arzew industrial zone in the west of the country. The two Chinese companies CNTIC/LPEC were selected under disturbing conditions for the construction of this new oil installation in Arzew near Oran. And for good reason, Chinese companies have never been able to establish themselves in the hydrocarbon market of oil and gas countries. For the first time in Algeria, Chinese companies are favored for a major petrochemical project. This is a decisive turning point that demonstrates the will of the new Algerian regime to convince Chinese companies at all costs to return to the country following a disaffection that has lasted since 2019. Since the fall of the Bouteflika regime, Beijing’s strategic partner, Chinese operators are less and less present in Algeria.
To reconcile them with Algeria, President Tebboune ordered to bring out the “big artillery”, namely to entrust them with the most important mega-projects in the country. But as Sonatrach lacks money to finance these projects since its coffers were seriously dented in 2020 and 2021 due to the crisis born in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the BNA was forced by the Algerian presidency to take out the checkbook to finance the market generously offered to the Chinese. This option did not fail to cringe in Algiers where many voices were raised once morest this decision described as insane. Instead of attracting foreign investors who inject money into the coffers of the country, Algeria is using its own money, in the midst of the economic crisis, to finance contracts granted to… Chinese.
