Algeria Trade Deficit Widens on Lower Energy Revenue

OPEC member Algeria’s energy earnings fell almost 26% in the first quarter of 2020, pushing up the trade deficit by just over 26% from the same period last year, the government said. The North African country has been trying to reduce spending on imports to cope with a drop in energy revenue due to lower global crude oil prices.

The value of oil and gas exports, which accounted for 92.40% of total sales abroad, stood at US$7.04 billion, down from US$9.48 billion in the first three months of 2019, customs data showed. That pushed up the trade deficit to US$1.50 billion from US$1.19 billion in the first quarter of last year.

Overall exports stood at US$7.62 billion in January-March 2020 against US$10.14 billion in the same period a year earlier, while imports fell 19.52% to US$9.12 billion in the first three months of this year.