The Philippines’ exports and imports contracted in November 2019, which the country’s chief economist took as a sign for the need to diversify energy sources as protection from global supply cuts.
The latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed that sales of Philippine-made goods abroad declined by 0.7 percent year-on-year to $5.6 billion last November, reversing the slight gain in October.
Imports, meanwhile, continued to slide for the eighth straight month, as the value of products from overseas dropped by 8 percent year-on-year to $8.9 billion in November.
As both merchandise exports and imports fell, total external trade that month decreased by 5.3 percent year-on-year to $14.5 billion.
Since imports still exceeded exports, the balance of trade in goods remained at a deficit last November, but at a narrower $3.3 billion compared to $4.1 billion a year ago.
In a statement, the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) blamed the decline in November exports to “lower shipments of agro-based products, petroleum products, and the flat growth in manufactures.”
The drop in imports, meanwhile, was due to “lower inward shipments for unprocessed and semi-processed raw materials, including manufactured goods,” Neda said.