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THE trade deficit in the first six months was revised upward to $24.41 billion after a preliminary estimate of $23.97 billion, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

A year earlier, the deficit had been $25.06 billion.

Imports were revised to $65.70 billion from $65.22 billion initially reported. The year-earlier import tally had been $61.50 billion.

The value of merchandise exports in the first half was revised to $41.29 billion from $41.24 billion previously. The year-earlier total had been $36.44 billion.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee expects export to decline 2% this year while imports are expected to grow 3.5%.