The Algerian authorities announced new import regulation measures on Saturday as part of the North African country's efforts to curb the unbalanced ratio of imports to exports.

"We are not aiming to ban imports but rather to control the imports bill in a bid to increase the country's revenues which have been heavily affected by the acute drop in oil prices in recent years," Trade Minister Abdelmadjid Teboune told reporters in Algiers.

The government has toughened requirements on the imports of household appliances, meats, fruits and mineral waters, he added.

Teboune also revealed that Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal will chair a top-level meeting days later about the budget needed for the imports in 2017.

In 2016, Algeria's exports hit 46.7 billion U.S. dollars compared to fewer than 29 billion dollars' worth of exports.

Algeria saw its foreign currency deposits drop to an equivalent of 30 billion dollars in 2016 from 32.5 billion dollars in 2015, because of the decrease of oil revenues after the acute fall in oil prices in global markets. Endit

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