Value of PH imports continued to decline in Aug.

The country’s annual imports in August eased for a second straight month as weaker shipments of industrial machinery and transport and telecommunications equipment point to a possible slowdown in the third quarter, supporting the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ decision to cut rates on Thursday.

Data from the NSO showed that payments for merchandise imports amounted to $5.057 billion in August, down by 0.4 percent from the $5.076 billion reported in the same month last year.

Also, the value of inbound shipments in July went down by 0.8 percent from that of the same month last year—a turnaround from the 13-percent growth seen in June 2012.

“Slow import growth implies slower manufacturing activity, lower exports and lower contribution of manufacturing to economic growth,” said Cid Terosa of the University of Asia and the Pacific via text message.

Month on month, imports increased by 1.9 percent from July’s $4.963 billion.

From January to August, aggregate imports managed to pick up by 0.1 percent to $40.769 billion from $40.731 billion in the same period last year.

Total external trade in goods for August reached $8.855 billion, down by 4.3 percent from the $9.249 billion recorded a year ago.

The NSO said the decrease could be attributed to the 9-percent decline in exports, which were valued at $3.798 billion in August from $4.173 billion in the same month a year ago.

This resulted in a trade deficit of $1.259 billion in August 2012, higher than the $903-million trade gap reported in August 2011.

Electronics, which accounted for 29.1 percent of the aggregate import bill, grew 5.7 percent to $1.473 billion in August this year from $1.393 billion in the same month last year. On the other hand, imports of transport equipment were valued at $294.17 million in August, slipping 3.4 percent from last year’s $304.46 million.

The United States was the country’s biggest source of imports in August, followed by China.