Aug. trade deficit hit record $6 billion

The country’s trade balance swung further into record $6-billion deficit in August as imports growth rose to a two-month high while exports slid for the second straight month, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday morning.

Preliminary PSA data showed the value of merchandise exports shrank by 2% year on year to $6.410 billion in August, a reversal from the 18.9% growth in the same month in 2021.

However, it marked the second straight month of year-on-year contraction in exports after the revised 4.1% drop in July.

Meanwhile, the country’s merchandise imports rose 26% to $12.413 billion in August. This was slower than the 28.3% growth in August 2021 but faster than the 22.2% import in the previous month.

This was the highest import print in two months or since the 26.3% growth in June.

This brought the trade-in-goods deficit — the difference between exports and imports — to $6.003 billion in August, nearly double the $3.310-billion shortfall of the same month last year. It was also wider than the $5.989-billion gap in July.

Total trade — the sum of exports and imports — grew by 14.8% to $18.823 billion. This pace was faster than the 11.8% in July, but lower than the 24.4% in August 2021.

In the eight months to August, exports grew by 4.4% year on year to $51.155 billion, below the 7% growth target set by the Development Budget Coordination Committee.

Imports during the same period climbed by 26% to $92.966 billion. This was already above the government’s 18% full-year target this year.

Year to date, the trade balance ballooned to a $41.811-billion deficit, wider than the $24.77-billion trade gap in the comparable eight months last year. — Lourdes O. Pilar