One OPEC State Muddles Through Oil Slump as History Deters Debt - Bloomberg

One OPEC State Muddles Through Oil Slump as History Deters Debt - Bloomberg:

"The new realities of global oil markets are yet to convince economic policy makers in Algeria that it’s time for a radical rethink.

Unlike the rest of OPEC’s members -- with the exceptions of war-torn Libya and sanctioned Iran -- Algeria has steered clear of tapping global debt markets three years into the oil-price slump. Neither will it overhaul laws to attract more foreign investors. A cabal of aging leaders sitting at the top of the party that delivered independence more than half a century ago is united in its opposition to “mortgaging” the country’s future. 

Instead, the North African nation has run through almost half of the foreign reserves it accumulated during the oil boom in order to avoid cutting welfare benefits as a sensitive political transition looms. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 80 and who has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013, has no clear successor, meaning a period of jockeying is already under way."



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