PH trade deficit shrank further to $4.2B in July

MANILA  -The Philippines’ deficit in the trade of goods continued to shrink, this time by 30 percent year-on-year to $4.2 billion in July from $6 billion in the same month last year as the global economic slowdown weakened the traffic of commodities.

Preliminary data at the Philippine Statistics Authority also show that the trade gap was wider than the $3.9 billion in June when the deficit surged by 33 percent.

Last July, export receipts decreased by 1.2 percent to $6.1 billion from $6.2 billion in the same month of 2022.

Meanwhile, the import bill dropped by 15.3 percent to $10.3 billion from $12.2 billion.

Monthly readouts continued to recede as the unfolding global economic slowdown and dampened demand for goods.

In June, the trade deficit narrowed by 33 percent year-on-year to $3.92 billion from $4.44 billion in the same month last year.