Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika this weekend conducted a cabinet reshuffle by changing six portfolios, including finance and energy ministers.
It is the fifth reshuffle under Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal since he took office in 2012.
Noureddine Bouterfa, CEO of Sonelgaz Group replaces Salah Khebri as Energy minister, while Baba Ammi Hadji, who served as Deputy Minister for Budget and Forecasting becomes Minister of Finance, replacing Abderahmane Benkhalfa, who leaves the government.
The government also welcomes a new portfolio held by Deputy Minister to Minister of Finance for Digital Economy and Modernization of Financial Systems Boudiaf Mouatassam.
Late last month President Bouteflika fired central bank chief Mohammed Laksaci after more than a decade in the job. Laksaci had been under pressure over his handling of the oil price drop.
In Algeria, the hydrocarbon sector accounts for 97% of the country’s total exports and 58% of its total fiscal revenues, according to the IMF.
The North African OPEC member state has started to take measures to counter the fall in oil prices, including raising subsidized fuel and electricity prices, cutting back on infrastructure projects and trimming budget spending.
Algeria, a major gas supplier to Europe, still has around $140 billion in foreign reserves that officials say will cushion it from the oil price drop, although its energy earnings fell by nearly 50 percent in 2015.