Philippine foreign trade balance turned to surplus in December from a year ago, defying economists’ expectations for a deficit, preliminary figures from the Philippine Statistical Authority showed Tuesday.
The trade balance showed a surplus of $603 million in December versus a shortfall of $667 million in the corresponding month last year. In contrast, economists had expected a deficit of $1.4 billion for the month.
The surplus in December was caused by a sharp fall in imports that plunged 25.8 percent from the previous year. It was the first decline in seven months. Meanwhile, imports were expected to climb by 10.7 percent.
Imports of electronic products, accounting for 31.6 percent of the total inbound shipments, slumped 31.6 percent annually in December. Imports of other food and live animals tumbled 47.9 percent. At the same time, imports of metal products grew 19.8 percent.
People’s Republic of China remained as the country’s biggest source of imports at 17.0 percent share at the end of the year.
Published: 2016-02-24 03:09:00 UTC+00
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