Algeria to privatize more than 200 firms

Algeria is planning to sell off between 200 and 230 state-owned companies either totally or in part, according to a senior Algerian official.

Algerian newspapers on July 29 quoted Ahmed Tibaoui as telling a meeting of Algerian and German businessmen on Monday, "The sectors of construction, major public works and building materials will be totally privatized."

The only exception would be the cement industry where the state would keep a stake but would open it to private capital.

Other areas where companies would be sold off included tourism, distribution networks and the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, Liberate newspaper quoted him as saying.