Financial reforms conducted over the past two decades have left the Algerian banking sector well poised to bounce back from the global financial crisis, according to the World Economic Forum’s Africa Competitiveness Report 2009. The report said Algeria was one of four African economies whose “competitive banking systems” and “functional regulatory systems” meant they were more likely to rebound positively. In particular, the report noted that while Algeria is “a slow reformer,” the country benefited from a financial system that “still demonstrates remarkable intermediation.” The WEF’s blessing is good news for the sector, which in recent years has witnessed stalled efforts towards privatization, due in large part to the onset of the financial crisis in developed markets. Initial attempts to partly privatize Algeria’s biggest bank, Crédit Populaire d’Algérie, scheduled for early 2008, were delayed and eventually shelved when the subprime crisis began to take hold. Of six international banks permitted
