During the first quarter this year, Algeria’s trade deficit amounted to $490 million against $2.98 billion the same period last year. This represents an 83.5% year-on-year decline according to data from the national council for statistic information (CNIS) published yesterday April 22.

This significant drop in trade deficit, is mainly due to the rise in hydrocarbon prices (which account for more than 90% of exports) and the government's import control policy adopted since the beginning of 2017.

Therefore, between January 1 and March 31 this year, export revenues reached $10.716 billion, compared to $8.938 billion the same period last year (+16.5%), while imports fell by 6.9% to $11.2 billion.

Thus, the coverage of imports by exports peaked at 96% during the period under review compared with 75% in Q1, 2017.