Baghdad  - The Iraqi Ministry of Oil has managed a significant increase in oil exports that surpassed expectations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

The country's oil exports have hit 1.88 million barrels per day, 11-per-cent higher than the IMF expected this year, Assem Jihad told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

The ministry has largely cut down on oil derivatives' imports throughout the current year to one billion dollars, compared to four billion dollars in the previous years, Jihad added.

The ministry had previously announced that Iraqi oil exports rose slightly in November to an average of 1.76 million barrels per day, up from 1.7 million in October.

But revenues declined around 25 per cent due to the sliding world oil prices. The ministry said that revenues fell to 2.3 billion dollars after reaching 3.11 billion dollars in October.

Oil exports are the main source for government revenues in the war-torn country. (dpa)