Philipines: Trade deficit likely narrowed in October – UK think tank

In a report, Pantheon Macroeconomics chief emerging Asia economist Miguel Chanco and senior Asia economist Moorthy Krshnan said the Philippines’ trade deficit likely improved to $3.150 billion in October.

Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority last month showed the balance of trade in goods or the difference between the value of the country’s exports and imports amounted to a $3.51 billion deficit in September, lower than the $4.83 billion gap in the same month a year ago.

The September trade gap is also smaller compared with the $4.13 billion trade shortfall in August.

Chanco and Krshnan said that the October trade gap would mask a decline in export growth to -8.9 percent during the month from -6.3 percent in September “due to adverse base effects.”

Meanwhile, the think tank expects the contraction in imports to ease to -7.7 percent in October from the previous month’s -14.7 percent.

The value of the country’s merchandise export sales slid 6.3 percent to $6.73 billion in September from $7.18 billion in the same month last year.

The country’s imports also dropped 14.7 percent to $10.24 billion in September from $12.01 billion in the same month a year ago.

For the first nine months, the country had a trade deficit of $39.82 billion, lower than the $46.69 billion the previous year.

Source:Philstar