ALGIERS: OPEC member Algeria recorded a trade deficit of $4.3 billion for the first four months of 2015, reversing a $3.4 billion surplus a year earlier, due to lower energy earnings as global oil prices slumped, official data showed.

Oil and gas exports, which accounted for 93.5 percent of Algeria's total exports, declined 42.8 percent to $12.54 billion in the January-April period, according to customs figures issued late on Saturday.

The value of overall exports during the period dropped 41 percent year-on-year to $13.4 billion, the figures showed.

World oil prices have declined by more than half since last June as oil output has increased while growth in demand has slowed.

Copyright Reuters, 2015