Surprise export surge narrowed trade deficit in Jan

MANILA — The Philippines’ foreign trade deficit shrank in January after exports halted four straight months of decline as global economic conditions improved, while the contraction of imports worsened.

The country’s trade gap amounted to $4.22 billion in the first month of 2024, 24.7 percent smaller than the $5.56 billion deficit recorded a year ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday.

However, the January shortfall was larger than the $4.18 billion deficit in December.

That the Philippines still posted a trade deficit—albeit milder this time—means the country continued to shell out more dollars to pay for the import requirements of its developing economy than earn from the sale of its export products. A worsening of the trade imbalance could weaken the peso.

READ: Trade deficit shrank to four-month low in Dec 2023

Dissecting the PSA’s report, export sales jumped 9.1 percent year-on-year to $5.94 billion in January, reversing the 0.5-percent contraction in the previous month.

That growth also ended a streak of declines that started in September last year.

Figures showed receipts from the sale of electronic products, the country’s top export commodity, amounted to $3.45 billion in January, up by 16.17 percent on an annual basis. Outbound shipments to the United States, the Philippines’ biggest export market, surged 16.1 percent to $902.33 million.

Meanwhile, imports collapsed 7.6 percent to $10.16 billion, worse than the 3.5-percent decline in December.

Broken down, imports of capital goods (-6.5 percent), raw materials and intermediate goods (-5.0 percent), mineral fuels (-35.4 percent) all sagged in January save for consumer goods, which grew 15.8 percent.