Tuesday May 26, 08:48 AM
Philippines March imports fall 36.2 pct
MANILA (AFP) - The Philippines said Tuesday that imports plunged 36.2 percent in March from a year earlier to 3.27 billion dollars, with the key electronics sector hit particularly hard.
The downturn was attributed to a fall in the international prices of fuel and other raw materials, Dow Jones Newswires said.
Total imports in the first three months of the year amounted to 9.598 billion dollars, a 34.3 percent decline year on year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.
The figure led to a 60 percent drop in the trade deficit to 363 million dollars in March compared with the same time last year, the NSO said in a statement.
Earlier this month the government said exports had fallen 30.8 percent to 2.907 billion dollars in March.
Electronic components accounted for 1.117 billion dollars, or 34.2 percent, of total imports in March, the statistics office said. This was a 40.7-percent decline from the same period last year.
The sector is especially important as many of the components are used in the manufacture of electronic goods that make up more than half of the Philippines' exports.
A decline in imports signals that exports in the coming months will also be sluggish amid signs that demand is still weak due to the global downturn.
Mineral fuels and lubricants were the second largest import, accounting for 14.3-percent of the total in March at 467.12 million dollars but this was 60.1-percent lower than the fuel imports in March, 2008.
The United States was the main source of imports in March, with 684.31 million dollars or 12.2 percent of the total.
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