OPEC member Algeria’s energy earnings fell almost 26 percent in the first quarter of 2020, pushing up the trade deficit by just over 26 percent from the same period last year, the government said on Sunday.
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 percent of total sales abroad, stood at $7.04 billion, down from $9.48 billion in the first three months of 2019, customs data showed.
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That pushed up the trade deficit to $1.50 billion from $1.19 billion in the first quarter of last year.
Overall exports stood at $7.62 billion in January-March 2020 against $10.14 billion in the same period a year earlier, while imports fell 19.52 percent to $9.12 billion in the first three months of this year.
