The country’s trade deficit widened by 54.1 percent year-on-year in April as imports posted a double-digit growth.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the trade deficit for the said month widened to $4.77 billion from $3.1 billion a year ago.
Total imported goods in April, which amounted to $10.9 billion, increased by 22.8 percent from the previous year’s level of $8.88 billion.
The country’s total export sales, on the other hand, saw an increase of 6 percent to $6.13 billion from $5.78 billion in April 2021.
Thus, the country’s total external trade in goods amounted to $17.03 billion in April which indicates an annual growth rate of 16.2 percent from $14.66 billion.
Michael Ricafort, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist, said in a statement yesterday while the country’s trade deficit narrowed from the previous month’s gap of $5 billion, it is still the third widest on record, after the record trade deficit of $5.27 billion posted in December 2021, as imports are similarly at the fourth highest on record, while exports slowed down to three-month lows.
“The latest slowdown in both exports and imports could be partly attributed to higher inflation locally and worldwide, in terms of higher input costs/prices, as well as some lockdowns in China over the past two to three months that reduced global trade activities,” Ricafort said.
“However, both imports and exports are still near the previous month’s respective record highs, nevertheless, as the economy re-opened further towards greater normalcy with the lowest Alert Level 1 in Metro Manila and in other areas,” he added.
Ricafort also cited the pickup in global economic activities/global trade in recent months amid increased vaccination/booster doses.
Likewise, he pointed out that some global supply chain disruptions since the pandemic started presented opportunities, especially for some Philippine exporters to sell products with limited supply such as semiconductors, among others.
“Russia’s invasion/war with Ukraine since February 24, 2022, led to further increase in global oil and other commodity prices that also partly bloated both the value of Philippine exports and imports,” Ricafort said.
