Algeria To Announce Revitalized SME LawA new law for Algeria's SME businesses is expected to be presented to the parliament "soon."

Algeria's Minister of Industry and Mining, Abdeslam Bouchouareb, announced that a new and effective law on SMEs would be presented to the parliament in Algiers "soon". This law couldn't come at a better time; an SME "upgrading program" was launched in 2012 and hasn't delivered the goods as promised, despite allocating US$4.3 billion for 20,000 SMEs.

Turns out that only about 4,000 have signed up for the program, according to Algeria's own National Agency for SME Development (AND-SMEs). It's worth mentioning that AND-SMEs was established back in 2001, which seems slightly ahead of its time. Various sources claim that 95% of Algeria's businesses fall into the SME category, so will this new law help AND-SMEs make some real progress in the enterprise space? Let's hope talk leads to action.