Algeria\'s 17 billion dollar surplus

Algeria\'s trade balance recorded a fiscal surplus of over $17 billion in the last seven months according to the statement issued by the National Media Center. This is a 25 percent increase over the the previous year which was an estimated $14 billion. Algeria’s exports reached $44.36 billion, against $42.42 billion during the same period in 2011, a rise by 4.57 percent according to Algerian Customs’ National Centre for Statistics and Data Processing (CNIS). Imports stood at $26.91 billion, against $28.46 billion over the same period in 2011, a drop by 5.46 percent while exports were higher than imports by 165% against 149% in the first seven months of 2011. The Algerian economic expert Bashir Mustapha had explained earlier the state of the Algerian economy in an interview with Arabstoday, which he described as: \"Fragile and rifted\" after the economic crisis that engulfed the world and its implications on Algeria. This statement comes according to a report issued by the Deputy Director General of the Office of the Algerian Economy Hamid Zeidouni who describe the current economy as fragile. He supported his words with numbers that are not promising: \"There is only 51 percent employment in the trade sector and 39.9 percent in the services sector, while the industry does not exceed 10 percent; this is an indicator that may be an overall  negative reflection of the economy.\" The results issued by the Automated National Media Center are contrary to the expectations of some analysts after the trade balance jumped to this level. Algerian exports were equivalent to 6 billion dollars and half the amount was in the form of imports during July.