The country’s trade deficit narrowed in February as exports fell at a faster pace versus the decline in imports, the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
Also yesterday, the PSA reported factory output in February recorded a year-on-year increase of 7.2 percent, slower than the double-digit growth rate of 11.2 percent in the previous month. In February 2022, the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) recorded a faster hike of 69.8 percent.
According to the PSA, the trade deficit in February fell to $3.88 billion, posting a 2.7 percent decline.
In January 2023, the trade deficit recorded an annual growth of 27.1 percent to $5.73 billion, and in February 2022, it posted a year-on-year increase of 47.2 percent to $3.98 billion.
The country’s total export sales in February 2023 amounted to $5.08 billion, reflecting a faster decrease of 18.1 percent from a decline of 13.1 percent in the previous month. In February 2022, total export sales grew at an annual rate of 15.7 percent to $6.2 billion.
The total imported goods in February 2023 amounted to $8.95 billion, indicating an annual decrease of 12.1 percent.
In January 2023, it recorded a year-on-year increase of 4.1 percent to $10.19 billion, while in February 2022, it exhibited a double-digit annual hike of 26.3 percent.
The country’s total external trade in goods amounted to $14.03 billion, posting an annual decline of 14.4 percent from the $16.39 billion recorded in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the PSA in a statement attributed the slower annual growth of VoPI in February mainly to the slower rate in the index of manufacture of food products at 6.4 percent from 14 percent in the previous month.
The manufacture of food products contributed 29.7 percent to the downtrend of VoPI of the manufacturing sector in February 2023.
Other main drivers to the decline of VoPI for the manufacturing sector were manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products, -14.2 percent from -6.9 percent; and manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products, -2.7 percent from 17.8 percent.
The Value of Production Index (VaPI) for manufacturing continued to register a two-digit year-on-year increase at 11.1 percent in February 2023, but slower than the January 2023 annual growth of 16 percent. In February 2022, the VaPI accelerated at an even faster rate of 77.2 percent.
Just like the VoPI, the slower annual growth of the VaPI in February was mainly due to the slower increase in the index of manufacture of food products industry division, with 13 percent growth in February 2023 from 21.4 percent in the previous month.
The manufacture of food products contributed 29.9 percent to the downtrend of VaPI for the manufacturing sector in February 2023. Out of the 22 industry divisions for the manufacturing sector, manufacture of food products had the highest weight in the computation of VaPI, the PSA said.
Other main contributors to the slower annual growth rate of VaPI in February 2023 were manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products posting a faster annual decline of 10.9 percent during the period from a 3.1 percent drop in the previous month; and manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products registering a slower annual increase of 2.6 percent during the period from a 27.2 percent growth in the previous month, the PSA also said. – Angela Celis
