Magharebia

Algeria has decided to prepay its $8 billion debt to the Paris Club, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia announced on Tuesday (21 March). The move is a result of high oil revenues, which boosted the country's foreign reserves to over $54 billion. Part of the reserves is being used to make payments on Algeria's overall debt, which fell from $21.4 billion at the end of 2004 to $15.6 billion in February 2006. The recent settlement of the Russian debt has helped open the doors to paying the Paris Club debt, Ouyahia said. (APS, AP)