Philippine foreign trade deficit increased in March from a year ago, as exports fell and imports rose, preliminary figures from the Philippine Statistical Authority showed Wednesday.
The trade gap widened to $2.61 billion in March from $2.1 billion in the corresponding month last year. The expected shortfall for the month was $3.01 billion.
Exports declined 8.2 percent year-over-year in March, confounding economists' forecast for an increase of 1.5 percent.
This was brought about by the decreases posted by seven out of the top ten commodities for the month led by exports of machinery and transport equipment.
Shipments of electronic products, accounting for 58.5 percent of total exports, advanced by 6.8 percent.
Imports dropped 0.1 percent in March from a year ago, well below the expected growth of 7.8 percent.
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