Turkey offers exports to Algeria in exchange for natural gas

Algeria which has been facing stagnation in its economy for a while has stopped importing many items. TIM (Turkish Exporters Association) has offered to export to this country in exchange for natural gas. It is reported that Algeria has stopped payments regarding importation of 24 items to include canned vegetables, tomato paste, ketchup, mayonnaise, prepared sauces and processed marbles from all countries and taken a decision to suspend existing import transactions. On the other hand Turkey imports natural gas and oil from Algeria. According to TIM the price of the products to be exported by Turkish exporters to this country could be deducted from the price of oil and natural gas to be imported from Algeria.

Experts expect Algeria to reduce food imports of $ 8.2 billion in the coming period after the decision to stop imports. However whether this will be a sustainable policy and how well the administration will be able to stick to this measure in the long run, seems to be a matter of question as they will definitely be obliged to import most vital needs.

Thus the idea behind this strategy is countries that act fast to take the lead in solving this problem will have advantage and Turkish exporters could continue to export to this country without interruption and the cost of the goods to be paid by Algeria could be paid to Turkish exporters by Turkey which could then deduct these amounts from oil and natural gas bills to be paid to Algeria. Actually, one could say this would be sort of a barter agreement between two countries.