MANILA: Imports to the Philippines rose by double digits again in June, though at a considerably lower level than the stratospheric rise of the month before.
Imports to the Philippines grew 15.4 per cent year-on-year in June to $6.853bn, according to the Philippines Statistics Authority, decelerating from growth of nearly 40 per cent the month prior but besting a median forecast of 13.8 per cent from economists.
Imports of electronic products led the June headline figure lower, shrinking almost 16 per cent year-on-year, compared to growth of over 44 per cent in May, while growth of inbound shipments of industrial machinery slowed to less than 58 per cent, down about 20 percentage points from the previous month.
However, growth in imports of telecom equipment accelerated about 14 percentage points to annualised growth of 91.5 per cent for the period.
Together with falling exports, which in June increased to -11.36 per cent year-on-year, the import figure brought the Philippines’ trade deficit to $2.098bn for the month, growing from $2.021bn in May and exceeding economists’ expectations by $95m.
