Algeria’s Prime Minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, has announced that revenues from oil and gas exports are expected to increase by b in 2017, compared to the .

5b in 2016, Ecofin Agency reported. He added that Hydrocarbon exports will reach $45b in 2019

According to customs data, during the first 11 months of 2016, Algeria’s hydrocarbon exports reached $24.03b, as the the average oil price dropped from $110/b in 2014 to $43.4/b in 2016. Yet, Sellal remarked that Despite the “financial issues faced by Algeria in 2016, this year’s budget covered the development program,” informed All Africa.

This comes as Algeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) continues to increase and will reach over $175m in 2017 against about $158m in 2016. Sellal further predicts that the countries GDP will reach over $189m and slightly more than $205m in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

In related news, late December 2016, Sonatrach’s Vice President of Exploration and Production, Salah Mekmouche, had said that the Algerian state energy producer planned to increase output of natural gas and crude oil by 20% in four years until 2020 as new projects would start up.

This came as Algeria had launched a program to rejuvenate its aging oil and gas wells and boost production as part of efforts to address a crash in oil earnings. The program included Sonatrach using for the first time inexpensive techniques such as Early Production Facilities (EPF) and Central Processing Facilities (CPF) in order to boost wells.