The Philippines trade-in-goods deficit declined by 33.3 percent in June to $3.92 billion from $5.87 billion a year ago, as imports shrank 15.2 percent on lower value of petroleum products.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that it was the narrowest trade deficit in four months since it amounted to $3.905 billion in February 2023.
“The narrowest trade deficit in four months and also among the narrowest in more than 1.5 years [was] due to [a] decline in imports to among the lowest in more than a year or since February 2022 and the highest exports in seven months or since November 2022,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said in a Viber message when sought for comment.
He said a narrower trade deficit would mathematically lead to faster economic growth, with less purchases of goods from abroad.
“This would also somewhat help stabilize the peso exchange rate vs. the US dollar with less requirements to purchase US dollars to finance payments of imports,” he said.
Ricafort said the other factor that caused the decline in trade deficit was the lower prices of global oil and other commodities in June.
Exports in June amounted to $6.70 billion, up 0.8 percent from $6.64 billion a year ago. Total exports in the first half amounted to $34.94 billion, down by 9.3 percent from $38.54 billion in the same period last year.
Imports fell to $10.62 billion in June from $12.52 billion in the same month of 2022. In the first six months, imports also went down by 8.0 percent to $62.90 billion from $68.38 billion.