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The country’s merchandise exports fell back into negative territory in January after showing growth in the previous two months, while merchandise imports continued their streak of decline through month 21, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported this morning. (PSA).
Merchandise exports contracted 5.2% to $ 5.49 billion in January after revised annual growth of 1.7% in December 2020 and 9.4% in January 2020, preliminary PSA trade data showed. .
Likewise, merchandise imports fell 14.9% to $ 7.911 billion in January, faster than the 8.2% and 2.8% falls in December and January 2020, respectively.
These figures were well below the growth targets of the Development Budget Coordination Committee of 5% and 8% for exports and imports of goods for this year, respectively.
The January export slump marked its first decline after two consecutive months of year-on-year expansion. In the case of merchandise imports, the decline is in its 21st consecutive month.
The latest trade figures brought the trade balance to a deficit of $ 2.42 billion in January, wider than the gap of $ 2.149 billion in December 2020, but narrower than the deficit of $ 3.504 billion in January 2020. – Jobo E. Hernández
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