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THE
increase in the prices of food imports pushed up the
country’s import bill in March and contributed to the
increase in the trade deficit for the first three months
of the year, according to the preliminary results of the
external trade performance report of the National
Statistics Office (NSO).
The NSO
said expenses for imported goods sustained growth by
12.1 percent to $5.121 billion from $4.567 billion in
March 2007.
With a
6.6-percent decline in exports in March to $4.193
billion from last year’s $4.487 billion, the trade
deficit for the month alone increased to $928 million
from only $79 million last year.
This has
caused a jump in the total trade deficit of the country
from January to March 2008 to $2.070 billion from last
year’s trade surplus of $40 million.
“This
growth is fueled by total imports, which grew by 20.1
percent to $14.606 billion from $12.161 billion in the
first quarter of 2007. Meanwhile, a modest growth of 2.7
percent is noted in total exports for the first quarter
of 2008 to aggregate dollar revenue of $12.536 billion
from $12.201 billion during the same quarter in 2007,”
the NSO said in a statement.
In
March, the biggest import gainers were cereals and
cereal preparations, which posted an increase of 151
percent, and dairy products with an increase of 94.7
percent.
The
biggest losers in terms of the growth in import payments
were textile, yarn, fabrics, made-up articles and
related products with a 19.4-percent drop, and
electronic products which declined by 16.8 percent.
In a
statement, the National Economic and Development
Authority (Neda) said growth of capital goods of -0.3
percent and raw materials and intermediate goods of -9.1
percent contributed to the slower growth of March 2008
import payments.
“Imports
of mineral fuel, lubricant and related materials grew by
87.1 percent from the same month a year ago as
increasing crude-oil prices in the international market
continued to drive up import values,” Acting
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Neda chief Augusto
Santos said in a memorandum to President Arroyo.
However,
Santos also noted that rice imports grew heftily by
404.4 percent, though lower than last month’s
year-on-year growth of 960.6 percent, as the government
tried to beat the escalating rice prices and beef up
stocks of the National Food Authority.
Meanwhile, the country’s total import bill for March was
still dominated by payments for electronic products,
which amounted to $1.883 billion and accounted for 36.8
percent of the total.
Payments
for electronic products in March 2008 was, however,
lower by 16.8 percent than last year’s $2.263 billion.
Compared
with the previous month’s level, purchases increased
only by 0.1 percent from $1.881 billion. The NSO said
that components/devices or semiconductors had the
biggest share of 28.5 percent.
However,
payments for semiconductor imports went down by 20.4
percent to $1.462 billion from $1.837 billion in March
2007.
The NSO
said aggregate payment for the country’s top 10 imports
for March 2008 reached $4.188 billion and accounted for
81.8 percent of the total import bill.
Meanwhile, around 37.6 percent of total imports in March
2008 were payments for raw materials and intermediate
goods. This amounted to $1.923 billion or a 9.1-percent
decrease over last year’s figure of $2.116 billion.
Compared
to the previous month’s level, the NSO said, purchases
went up by 7.6 percent from $1.788 billion.
Semiprocessed raw materials valued at $1.782 billion had
the biggest share of 34.8 percent.
On the
other hand, payments for imports from the top-10 import
sources for March 2008 amounted to $3.941 billion or 77
percent of the total.
In
March, Singapore was the country’s biggest source of
imports with a 13.4-percent share of the total import
bill or an increase of 29.7 percent to $686.35 million,
from $529.08 million in March 2007.
Exports
to Singapore amounted to $183.34 million, yielding a
two-way trade value of $869.69 billion and a trade
deficit for the Philippines at $503.02 million.
The
United States followed as the second biggest source of
imports with a 13.3-percent share, recording payments
worth $683.41 million or a decline of 13.2 percent from
$786.93 million in March 2007.
Revenue
from the country’s exports to United States, on the
other hand, reached $684.33 million, which generated a
total trade value of $1.368 billion and a $0.92-million
trade surplus for the Philippines. |
