PHL imports rise by more than 20% in March

Philippine imports rose by more than a fifth in March, the government reported on Wednesday. According to the National Statistics Office, the Philippines imported $5.523-billion worth of products in March, a 21.2-percent rise from the amount it paid in the same month last year. Electronic products, which accounted for 37.2 of the total import bill and are used as components for Philippine exports, posted a growth of 36.4 percent from a year ago. For the first three months of the year, the country's imports amounted to $15.586 billion, while the country's exports reached $12.219 billion. "Thus, the balance of trade in goods for the Philippines posted a deficit a $3.368 billion during the three-month period in 2011, a value higher than the $1.441 billion deficit in the same three-month period last year," the NSO added. US was the country's largest source of imported products, accounting for 11.5 percent, followed by Japan with 10.4 percent. Of the types of commodities imported by the country, raw materials and intermediate goods accounted for 50.7 percent of the total import bill, up 75.7 percent from last year's figures. Other top sources were Singapore, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. The government earlier downplayed impacts of the recent disasters in Japan to the local economy, saying the Philippines' import sources in Japan were relatively unaffected by the earthquakes and tsunami. -- CMA/JMT/OMG, GMA News