ALGIERS, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Algeria's grain imports reached 7.53 million tonnes in the first half of 2016, an 8.6 percent rise from a year earlier, due to a jump in soft wheat, barley and maize purchases, official data showed on Tuesday.

Algeria, one of the world's largest grain importers, has been trying to cut its import bill in a bid to offset a fall in world oil prices that has hit its finances.

Barley imports rose 50.65 percent to 620,734 tonnes in the first six months of 2016, according to customs figures.

Soft wheat purchases were up 6.1 percent to 3.62 million tonnes, while durum wheat imports rose 2.06 percent to 990,004 tonnes during the January-June period of this year.

Maize imports rose 7.8 percent to 2.3 million tonnes, the data showed.

The overall cost of grain imports declined 17.75 percent to $1.56 billion due to lower prices.

The North African country harvested 4 million tonnes of grain in 2015, up 14.3 percent from the previous year.

(Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed, editing by David Evans) ((hamid.ouldahmed@thomsonreuters.com;))