MANILA -The Philippines’ deficit in the trade of goods narrowed by 2.7 percent year-on-year in February, with the import bill exceeding export earnings by $3.88 billion.
Preliminary data at the Philippine Statistics Authority show that the trade gap improved slightly as two-way traffic of goods in February shrank by 14 percent to $14 billion from $16.39 billion in the same month of 2022.
In February, export receipts fell by 18 percent to $5.08 billion from $6.2 billion a year ago.
In the same period, imports also fell by 12 percent to $8.95 billion from $10.19 billion.
Last January, the trade deficit ballooned by 27 percent while two-way traffic eased by 2 percent.
Also in January, imports grew by 4 percent while exports shrank by 13 percent.