RP trade deficit shrinks to $2.686B in first 7 months

(Updated 4:47 p.m.) The Philippine trade deficit shrunk to $2.686 billion in the first seven months of the year from $3.867 billion in the January-July period last year, the National Statistics Office said Tuesday. Imports increased by 26.7 percent to $30.911 billion from $24.405 billion in the same comparable period. Merchandise exports also rose by 37.4 percent, from $20.538 billion to $28.225 billion, the NSO said in a statement. “Total external trade in goods for January to July 2010 reached $59.136 billion, a 31.6 percent increment from $44.943 billion registered during the same period in 2009," it said. For the month of July electronic products accounted for 34.9 percent of the import bill, which totaled $1.634 billion, the NSO said. The amount includes consigned items and direct importation using the expanded coverage of electronic products for the month. "Among the major groups of electronic products, components/devices (semiconductors) having the biggest share of 27.6 percent, advanced by 5.3 percent to $1.293 billion from $1.228 billion in July 2009," according to the NSO statement. —VS, GMANews.TV