Finance Minister Abdellatif Benachenhou and French Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy signed on 27 July a memorandum calling on Paris to provide a financial package worth Eur 2,000 million ($2,400 million) to fund economic development.

Under the terms of the growth and partnership agreement, Eur 700 million-750 million ($841 million-914 million) will be provided in the form of low-interest loans. A further Eur 288 million ($336 million) of local debt owed to Paris will be forgiven and turned into investment - the maximum allowed under Paris Club rules.

About Eur 1,000 million ($1,202 million) will be extended in the form of trade loans underwritten by French export credit agency Coface. The majority of the funds have been earmarked for the planned Algiers metro expansion and its associated rolling stock, as well as new trains for the capital's electrified suburban network.