The last several years have been not easy for Algeria. The country has undergone considerable political turmoil and the economy has underperformed. Now Algeria’s precarious economic and political situation is being hit hard by the growing presence of the coronavirus. The economy, which was also slammed by the recent Russian-Saudi price war, is now expected to contract 5.2 percent for 2020. Algeria is one of Europe’s major natural gas suppliers and sits in a region marked by the large flow of migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa, factors that elevate its geopolitical importance to the European Union, especially France and Italy, which are major trade customers and would be on the receiving end of any new waves of migrants.