Algeria To Announce Revitalized SME Law A 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.