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Algeria's trade deficit surges 27.2 pct in H1

Xinhua, July 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Algeria's trade deficit surged 27.2 percent year on year to 10.8 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of 2016, according an official report released Wednesday.

The report by the National Center for Data Processing and Statistics (CNIS) revealed that exports declined by about 33 percent from a year ago to about 12.7 billion dollars during the first six months this year.

Meanwhile, the country saw imports down by 14.3 percent year on year to 23.5 billion, said the CNIS.

The figures showed that oil exports represented about 93.6 percent of Algeria's revenues, despite a year-on-year drop of 33.6 percent to 11.9 billion dollars during the first half of 2016.

However, non-hydrocarbon exports took up about 6.5 percent of the oil-rich country's foreign trade, as it decreased by 22.8 percent to 818 million dollars from the same period of last year.

The Algerian government plans to reduce imports by 15 percent in 2016 to enhance reserves as the country is suffering from tumbling oil prices in global markets.

Algeria has taken measures to deal with such price slump, including cutting public spending, reducing energy subsidies and raising fuel prices, in addition to suspending several construction projects and recruitment programs.

The government forecast a decline of the country's foreign exchange reserves to 121 billion dollars by the end of this year, compared to 143 billion dollars in 2015. Endit