Trade deficit widens in November as imports outpaced exports
THE Philippines registered a November trade deficit of $3.78 billion in its balance of trade in goods, wider than the $2.49 billion shortfall in the same month last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported earlier.
Merchandise exports grew 1.6% to $4.96 billion in November according to the government’s latest trade data that was released earlier this morning. This was slower compared to the 7.1% posted in October, but was a reversal from the 4.5% decline during the same month last year. By major commodities, exports of mineral products grew 128.5% to $364.28 million, offsetting the declines seen in exports of manufactured goods (-1.5% to $4.13 billion) and agro-based products (-28.5% to $288.48 million). Electronic products, which accounts 58.1% of the total outbound shipments, expanded by 12.7% to $2.88 billion in November.
Meanwhile, imports grew 18.5% to $8.74 billion in the same month, higher than October’s 13.1% growth albeit lower than the 21% seen in November 2016. Imports of raw materials and intermediate goods increased by 18.9% to $3.31 billion while that of capital goods ($2.88 billion) and consumer goods ($1.62 billion) went up by 16.1% and 14.4%, respectively. — Lourdes O. Pilar
