The current account, one of the components of balance of payments, remained in surplus at $778 million in the first half of 2016 but lower than $5.3 billion in the same period last year due mainly to the widening of the trade-in-goods deficit, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday.
“The trade-in-goods deficit for the first half increased by 72.1 percent to $16.4 billion as a result of the contraction in exports of goods by 5.2 percent and the expansion in imports of goods by 18.3 percent,” Bangko Sentral said in a statement Friday.
Exports of goods fell to $20.7 billion in the first six months of 2016 from $21.8 billion in the same period last year. Except for sugar products, all major commodity groups registered decreased shipments. Imports of goods rose to $37.1 billion or by 18.3 percent mainly from higher imports of capital goods.