The country’s trade deficit widened 26.5 percent in September, latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
The country’s Balance of Trade in Goods in September 2022 contracted $4.82 billion, which showed a wider deficit compared to the $3.81 billion in September last year.
However, this was a smaller trade deficit compared to the $6.02 billion deficit in August 2022, data showed.
“The balance of trade in goods [BoT-G] is the difference between the value of export and import,” PSA said. “The trade deficit in the previous month recorded an annual increase of 81.9 percent, while in September 2021, it was posted at 68.1 percent.”
The PSA said the country’s total export sales in September 2022, amounting to $7.16 billion, reflected an annual rate of 7 percent from a contraction of 2 percent the previous month.
In September 2021, PSA data showed the total export sales grew at an annual rate of 6.4 percent.
Of the top 10 major commodity groups, five recorded annual increases in terms of the value of exports.
These were ignition wiring set and other wiring sets used in vehicles, aircrafts and ships (25.4 percent), electronic products (19.3 percent), machinery and transport equipment (7.5 percent), electronic equipment and parts (7 percent), and other manufactured goods (5.6 percent).
“The year-to-date annual total export earnings, that is from January to September 2022, amounted to $58.31 billion. This represents an annual increase of 4.7 percent compared with the year-to-date annual total export value earned in January to September 2021,” PSA said.
Meanwhile, total imported goods in September 2022, which amounted to $11.98 billion, increased at an annual rate of 14.1 percent.
In August 2022, it grew at a faster rate of 26.2 percent, while in September 2021, imports value recorded an uptrend of 22.8 percent.
The annual growth in the value of imported goods in September 2022 was mainly due to the increases in imports of seven of the top 10 major commodity groups, with mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials having the fastest annual growth rate of 64.2 percent.
This was followed by transport equipment, which rose by 53.3 percent annually; and miscellaneous manufactured articles by 33.7 percent.
“The year-to-date annual total import value…from January to September 2022 amounted to $104.96 billion. This represents an annual increment of 24.6 percent from the year-to-date annual total import value of $84.27 billion in January to September 2021,” PSA said.
PSA said in September 2022, the country’s total external trade in goods amounted to $19.14 billion, which indicates an annual growth rate of 11.3 percent.
In the previous month, the annual increase was faster at 15 percent, while in September 2021, it grew by 15.8 percent.