Algeria's government pushes staples to subsidized markets to stave off Ramadan shortages

Algeria’s government has flooded newly opened markets selling subsidized goods with pantry staples to stave off shortages during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan, when demand typically increases in Muslim-majority countries and prices tend to rise. Authorities have moved to increase food and fuel imports and also limit exports, hoping to meet the demands of Algerians preparing nightly feasts as their families break the sunrise-to-sunset fasting during Ramadan. The policies mark a reversal of the government’s longstanding practice of limiting imports to buoy local producers in the oil-rich North African nation with a struggling economy. At one state subsidized market in the country’s capital, Algiers, shopper Sofiane Ameri this week commended the government’s strategy for reining in prices.