The country’s trade deficit narrowed in November as exports posted double-digit growth while imports contracted during the month.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the balance of trade in goods in November 2022 amounted to -$3.68 billion, indicating a trade deficit with a year-on-year decline of 21.9 percent.
The total export sales in November 2022 amounted to $7.1 billion, reflecting an annual increase of 13.2 percent.
Total imported goods in November 2022, which amounted to $10.78 billion, on the other hand decreased by 1.9 percent.
Year-to-date annual total export earnings amounted to $73.17 billion, posting an increase of seven percent, while January to November 2022 imports amounted to $126.86 billion, up 20.3 percent year-on-year.
Michael Ricafort, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist, said in an emailed statement yesterday the narrower trade deficit may have to do with the lower global crude oil prices among one-year lows recently, at $74 per barrel levels for the Nymex crude oil benchmark, and erased all the increase since the start of 2022 and further below the $92 levels when the Russia-Ukraine war started.
Other major global commodity prices such as natural gas, wheat, soybean, coal, iron, steel, copper, nickel, among others, started to ease in recent weeks or months, Ricafort said, which thereby could help reduce the country’s import bills, narrow the trade deficit; as well as help ease inflationary pressures for the coming weeks or months.
“The significant narrowing/improvement in the trade deficit data in recent months (especially from October-November 2022) may have fundamentally helped stabilize and even improved the peso exchange rate,” Ricafort said.
“Imports and exports could still continue to grow on a year-on-year basis in the coming months as the economy further reopens towards greater normalcy as new COVID cases still eased significantly from the new record high of 39,004 posted on Jan. 15, 2022 as vaccinations/booster doses versus COVID-19 accelerated further towards population protection and eventually herd immunity, as complemented by the availability of COVID pills, all of which would help prevent COVID cases from spreading further,” he added.
