The country’s trade deficit surpassed $54 billion in 2024, as merchandise imports slightly rose and exports tumbled, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed Wednesday.
The balance of trade in goods resulted in a trade deficit of $54.33 billion last year, higher by 3.3 percent than in 2023.
“In 2024, the country’s total external trade in goods amounted to $200.87 billion, which indicates an annual increase of 0.5 percent from the $199.83 billion total external trade in the previous year,” the PSA said.
It said of the total external trade in 2024, 63.5 percent were imported goods, while the remaining 36.5 percent were exported goods.
Export sales in 2024 amounted to $73.27 billion, down by 0.5 percent from $73.62 billion in the previous year.
By commodity group, electronic products continued to be the country’s top export in 2024 with total earnings of $39.09 billion or 53.4 percent of the country’s total exports during the period.
This was followed by other manufactured goods with an export value of $4.68 billion (6.4 percent) and other mineral products with $3.01 billion (4.1 percent).
By major trading partner, exports to the United States comprised the highest export value amounting to $12.14 billion or 16.6 percent of the total. Other major export trading partners were Japan, with $10.33 billion; Hong Kong, $9.61 billion; China, $9.44 billion; and Korea, $3.57 billion.
Imports amounted to $127.60 billion in 2023, representing an annual increase of 1.1 percent from $126.21 billion in 2023.
Imports from China reached $32.83 billion or 25.7 percent of the total in 2024. Other top sources were Indonesia, with $10.64 billion; Japan, $10.11 billion; Korea, $9.63 billion; and the United States, $8.17 billion.