Philippines posts $3.92 billion trade deficit in June

MANILA – The Philippines posted a trade deficit of $3.92 billion for June, the most narrow gap since February, preliminary official data showed on Tuesday.

Imports in June fell 15.2% to $10.62 billion from a year earlier, the steepest decline since October 2020, while exports grew 0.8% to $6.7 billion, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.

Ahead of Tuesday’s data, ING senior economist Nicholas Mapa had projected contractions for both exports and imports in June given slowing global trade.

The data comes ahead of Thursday’s second-quarter gross domestic product data. — Reuters