The country’s trade deficit widened in June as exports were flat while imports grew by double-digits, reported the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Exports declined by a mere 0.1% to $5.7 billion in June, improving from a 1.8% decline in May albeit worse than the 17.1% growth in June 2017.
The latest merchandise export figure brought year-to-date receipts to $32.732 billion, down 3.8% from $34.035 billion in the same six months last year.
The country’s balance of trade in goods widened to a $3.350 billion deficit in June from $1.586 billion a year ago as imports grew by double-digits. The country’s import bill increased 24.2% to $9.05 billion during the month, faster than the 12.6% seen in May and 0.6% in June 2017.
So far, 2018 saw a 13.2% merchandise import growth compared to a 10% target set for the year.
On a cumulative basis, the recorded trade deficit was at $19.105 billion versus the $11.749 billion seen in Jan-June 2017.
Hong Kong is the Philippines’ top export market in June with a 15.8% market share at $901.2 million followed by the United States’ 15.5% ($884.65 million) and Japan’s 13.9% ($793.69 million) market shares.
Meanwhile, China was the country’s top source of imports with a 21.4% share in June ($1.93 billion) followed by the 9.8% and 9.7% market shares of Korea ($886.31 million) and Japan ($881 million), respectively. — Christine Joyce S. Castañeda

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