Philippine exports, imports shrank in July 2023

Philippine exports and imports shrank in July 2023 from a year ago, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show.

The PSA said merchandise exports fell 1.2 percent in July to $6.14 billion from $6.22 billion a year ago, while imports declined 15.3 percent to $10.35 billion from $12.22 billion.

This led to a trade deficit of $4.20 billion in July, although this was smaller than the $6-billion gap in the same month last year.  Trade deficit in the seven-month period also narrowed to $32.18 billion from $35.8 billion a year earlier.

Export earnings in the first seven months went down by 8.2 percent to $41.09 billion, while imports shrank 9.1 percent to $73.3 billion.