The Philippines’ balance of trade in goods showed a narrower deficit of USD3.51 billion in September, with the country importing less during the month compared to the year-earlier period, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Tuesday.
The balance of trade was at a deficit of USD4.83 billion in September last year.
PSA said the total export sales in September declined 6.3 percent to USD6.73 billion on weaker shipments of electronic products, the country’s main export item. Electronic exports in September declined 9.4 percent to USD4.09 billion.
By major trading partner, exports to the U.S. accounted for nearly 16 percent of total export, or USD1.06 billion.
Imports, meantime, declined a sharper 14.7 percent to USD10.24 billion on lower purchases of electronics and oil products. The value of imported electronic product drop 26 percent to USD2.2 billion while that of mineral fuels, lubricants and related minerals was down 27 percent to USD1.49 billion.
