Philippines posts $4.38 billion trade deficit in August

MANILA - The Philippines' trade deficit widened in August on an annual basis as the cost of imports exceeded the value of exports for the month. 

But month-on-month, the trade deficit in August was less than in July.  

The Philippine Statistics Authority said the country’s total external trade in goods amounted to $17.87 billion in August this year, up 1.8 percent from the $17.56 billion total external trade in August last year.

Of this total, 62.2 percent were imported goods, while the remaining 37.8 percent were exported goods, the PSA said.

Export sales amounted to $6.75 billion, while the total value of imported goods was $11.12 billion--meaning the Philippines had a deficit of $4.38 billion.

The trade deficit in August was 6.6 percent higher compared to the $4.1 billion deficit posted in the same month last year. However, August's trade gap was still lower than July's $4.88 billion trade deficit.

The country's biggest export was electronics followed by other manufactured goods, mineral products, machinery and others.

A large chunk of the exported goods went to the United States, which was the biggest export market for the Philippines. The US bought $1.22 billion of Philippine-made goods in August. The US was followed by Hong Kong, Japan and China.

Meanwhile, China was the country’s largest supplier of imported goods valued at $2.79 billion or 25.1 percent of the country’s total imports in August. China was followed by Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and the US as the largest suppliers of imports.

The Philippines has generally posted a deficit in trade in goods due to the country's relatively small manufacturing base. The country however exports a lot of services thanks to its huge business outsourcing industry.