The growth of the country’s exports and imports skyrocketed in April, coming from a low base in view of tight quarantine restrictions implemented around the same period a year ago.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) yesterday reported that total export sales in April rose by 72.1 percent to $5.71 billion.
In April last year, merchandise export sales dropped by 41.3 percent year-on-year to $3.32 billion.
The total imported goods in April meanwhile jumped 140.9 percent to $8.45 billion.
In the same period a year ago, imports decreased 62.9 percent to $3.51 billion.
The country’s total external trade in goods in April amounting to $14.16 billion jumped by 107.5 percent from the year ago level of $6.83 billion, which then recorded a 54.8 percent year-on-year decline.
The balance of trade in goods amounted to -$2.73 billion, representing a trade deficit with an annual increase of 1,361.5 percent.
Michael Ricafort, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist, said in an emailed statement that the unusually low base/denominator effects for both imports and exports quantitatively resulted in hefty year-on-year gains at high double-digit growth rates and even at triple-digit growth rates for some import and export items.
This is in view of the height of the lockdowns a year ago that led to shutdowns and reductions in production and economic activities locally and in many countries worldwide, amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Ricafort also noted the month-on-month decline in both exports and imports, which he said may largely be attributed to the recent tighter quarantine restrictions implemented in the National Capital Region (NCR) Plus area.
“Imports and exports could see some pick up in May 2021 on a month-on-month basis, as NCR Plus reverted back to general community quarantine with some restrictions from May 15 to June 15, 2021, thereby allowing more businesses/industries to operate at higher capacity alongside with additional measures to further re-open the economy from lockdowns, thereby could fundamentally lead to faster pick up in both imports and exports volume,” Ricafort said.
“For the coming months, further pick up in imports and exports would be a function of more COVID-19 vaccine arrivals as well as the inclusion of economic frontiers or A4 and A5 priority groups in the vaccination program that would help shore up confidence by both businesses and consumers, as well as support the further pick up in business/economic activities, in terms of faster recovery prospects, back to pre-COVID levels for both imports and exports, which already posted new record high in the previous month,” he added.
The PSA said the cumulative export earnings four months into the year amounted to $23.37 billion, posting a 19 percent hike year-on-year.
Imports also posted a 21.9 percent jump in the first four months of the year to $34.46 billion.
In a statement, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the country’s exports growth rate in April was the highest among select Asian economies, surpassing even that of Japan’s 38 percent and China’s 32.3 percent growth rates.
“Our latest export growth rate shows that we are steadily recovering from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ramon Lopez, trade secretary, said.
“It can be considered a solid growth considering that the performance was even stronger than the pre-pandemic levels in 2019, and not just due to the low base in 2020. The recorded amount of $5.71 billion for April 2021 was higher than the recorded amount of $5.65 billion in 2019,” he added.
Lopez said looking at the total trade data, the year-on-year doubling in imports of manufacturing inputs such as raw materials and intermediate goods (118.6 percent) and capital goods (104.8 percent) also signal that local manufacturing is ramping up.
To maximize the gains from the revival of the global economy, Lopez mentioned DTI is working to increase market access.
He also stated that DTI is pushing for the ratification of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership this year to open more market opportunities and further boost exports for the country.
“As we gradually and safely reopen our economies both locally and abroad, we are confident that we will see a sustained improvement in our export growth rate this year,” Lopez said.
