ALGIERS, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Algeria posted a trade deficit of $8.041 billion for the first seven months of 2015, reversing a $3.9 billion surplus a year earlier, due to a sharp fall in energy earnings after the global market crude prices slump, official data showed on Sunday.

That pushed down the coverage of imports by exports to 74 percent from 111 percent in the January-July period of 2014, according to customs figures.

Oil and gas exports, which accounted for 94 percent of Algeria's total exports, fell 42.08 percent to $21.559 billion in the first seven months of 2015, the data showed.

The value of overall exports during the period fell 40.44 percent year-on-year to $22.924 billion, while imports declined 10.31 percent to $30.965 billion.

Algeria, an OPEC member and a major gas supplier to Europe, has been implementing several measures to counter the oil price drop including trying to restrict imports.

(Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Dominic Evans) ((hamid.ouldahmed@thomsonreuters.com;))

Keywords: ALGERIA TRADE/