On Wednesday, June 8, 2022, as a result of the U-turn by Madrid on the question of Western Sahara to support the Moroccan plan, Algeria has decided to break the “treaty of friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation” which has linked it with Spain since 2002. This has led, in particular, to the freezing of banking transactions between the two countriesso the suspension of the trade.
Dispute with Algeria, a salty economic bill for Spain
Since the economic exchanges between Spain and Algeria have been badly affected and six months after the adoption of these reprisal measures, the shortfall for Iberian companies amounts to hundreds of millions of euros. Alone continues gas supplybut with a upward price revisionas Sonatrach announced on October 6 when concluding the contract with its Spanish client, Naturgy.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune receives the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez.
Between June and July 2022, just one month after the friendship treaty was broken, the exports from Spain to Algeria fell to 94 million euros, compared to 329 million during the same period in 2021. A shortfall for the Iberian economy which therefore amounts to 235 million euros (statistics from the Spanish Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Trade).
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Four months later, the amount of losses has doubled to reach the sum of 487 million euros (official figures). Indeed, the Spanish Ministry of Commerce has indicated that between June and September 2022, exports to Algeria barely reached 138 million euroswhile over the same period in 2021, these peaked at 625 million euros.
Hit hard, Spanish companies are waiting for a solution
Today, six months after Algeria’s decision to break the friendship and cooperation treaty with Spain, exports are blocked, investments frozen, projects paralyzed and economic exchanges between the two countries remain at a standstill. Faced with this unprecedented and complex situation, Spanish companies are paying a heavy price.
Since June 2022, Spanish companies can no longer export to Algeria.
Julio Lebrero, boss of Aecomhel, an SME manufacturing public works machinery, almost all of whose activity is in Algeria, told AFP that since June, his company can neither export nor import. “All operations are on stand-by, he laments. It’s been six months since we’ve charged a single euro“. It should be noted, however, that the crisis also affects certain Algerian SMEs which depend on raw materials and spare parts imported from Spain.
Faced with this imbroglio that is slow to resolve, Spanish business leaders get discouraged. “We asked the authorities for help, but got no response,” laments a spokesperson for Anffecc, an association of ceramics manufacturers, a sector highly dependent on the Algerian market. Julio Lebrero denounces: “The government has completely abandoned us”. As for Mr. Tapia, he hopes for a “quick solution”, because “the current situation, he judges, is not good for anyone. »
Source : https://california18.com/algiers-madrid-crisis-colossal-losses-for-spanish-companies-2/8277552022/
