ALGIERS, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Algeria's trade deficit declined by 83.6 percent to 490 million U.S. dollars during the first quarter of 2018, compared to 2.98 billion dollars a year ago, said Customs' National Center for Data and Statistics on Sunday.

Such a remarkable decline is essentially due to the increase in exports by 20 percent to 10.72 billion dollars between January and March, against 8.94 billion dollars in the same period in 2017.

The increase in exports is because of the rebound in oil prices since last year.

Imports slightly dropped by 6 percent to 11.2 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2018, compared with 11.92 billion dollars in the same period last year, the figures showed.

The decline in imports is due to the government's decision to imposing licenses on importers, in a bid to block the imports of "unnecessary goods," such as vehicles, building materials, luxury furniture and exotic fruits.

Such a decision was meant to curb upshots of the financial crisis hitting the North African nation after the fall of oil prices.

In fact, the data showed that hydrocarbons account for 96.6 percent of Algeria's exports to reach 10.03 billion dollars in the first three months of 2018, against 8.4 billion dollars a year ago, with an increase of 19.6 percent.

Despite a 25-percent increase in non-hydrocarbon exports in the first quarter of 2018, they are still marginal and reflect how much the North African nation is dependent on hydrocarbons income.

Meanwhile, China has maintained Algeria's largest importer, with 1.74 billion dollars worth of imports accounting for 15.53 percent of Algeria's imports in the first quarter.

China was followed by France, with 1.12 billion dollars of imports, Italy, with 944 million dollars, Spain, with 870 million dollars and Germany with 750 million dollars.

Moreover, Italy has become Algeria's largest exporter, with a total value of 1.41 billion dollars, representing 13.2 percent of the total exports of the North African country.