Algeria to expand 51/49 rule to wholesale, retail trades

Algeria will expand the rule 51/49, governing foreign investments to wholesale and retail trades, announced Thursday here Minister of Industry and Mines, Abdessalam Bouchouareb.
"The 51/49 rule will continue and will be strengthened since it will be extended to wholesale and retail trades," he said at the end of the Government-Union-Employers tripartite meeting.
This measure, he said, was dictated by the need to help vulnerable or collapsed sectors, due to competition of the imported products notably manufacturing sector.
The overhaul of the investment code which intends to integrate this new measure will bring order in the wholesale and retail market, undermined by informal activities, the minister  stressed.
Bouchouareb has thus denied the information reported by the press that Algeria could remove this rule in non-strategic sectors.
The cancellation of this rule governing partnerships in the foreign investments was raised by Algeria's partners in the negotiations for its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
This measure was generalized in 2009, after being applied only to the oil sector governed by a specific investment code.