Algeria : Economic independence is a reality as the National Fund lends $5.26 billion

A lever of power, economic independence and strategic autonomy—shielded from the shocks of an increasingly opaque international environment. Relying on itself as much as possible to build development is Algeria’s creed. The least indebted country in Africa and the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) is being courted by the IMF—which wants to finance Algiers—but that avenue is closed for now. The only opening mentioned is towards the AfDB (African Development Bank), possibly a $3 billion loan. Yet Algeria is mainly banking on its own resources to support its development.

The National Investment Fund (FNI) is one of the instruments of this economic independence. It has been mobilised to finance major structuring projects, notably the expansion and modernisation of the national railway network. Among the most ambitious programmes delivered in recent years are two mining rail lines in western and eastern Algeria…

The first was completed in early February; it links the Gara Djebilet iron ore deposit to Béchar and stretches 950 km across Algeria’s far south-west. The second is dedicated to transporting phosphate between Blad el Hadba and Annaba over 420 km. It is a large-scale mining project financed by Algiers from its own funds, which it is counting on to secure a stronger position on the global phosphate market.

In its report on the draft budget adjustment law for 2023, the Court of Auditors said the FNI disbursed around $3 billion as a loan to the SNTF to install the two lines. The funding was used to purchase railway equipment for the integrated phosphate project (126.2 billion dinars, or $970 million) and for the Gara Djebilet mining line (258 billion dinars, or $1.98 billion).

On 12 February 2026, the Minister of the Interior and Transport, Saïd Sayoud, said Algeria had spent nearly $4 billion on the purchase of new trains.

Overall, the FNI signed five loan agreements in 2023. In addition to modernising Air Algérie’s fleet—a $2 billion loan to order 15 aircraft—the fund subsidised Saïdal to pay for equipment dedicated to its anti-cancer project (2.17 billion dinars, $17 million) and boosted the cash position of the Sider El Hadjar complex (18.63 billion dinars, $140 million).

In total, the five agreements amount to 673.25 billion dinars ($5.26 billion), of which 77.4 billion dinars ($590 million) have already been disbursed, according to the Court of Auditors’ report.