Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released today (June 25) revealed that half of the the economy’s top ten major import commodities posted a “negative performance” in April.
In effect, the total value of important goods for April fell to $4.68 billion compared to $5.37 a year ago. That’s a decline of about 12.8% — the lowest drop for 2015 since January’s 13.1% contraction. Except for February’s 10.2% growth, all other months of the year so far saw a decline in imports.
The combined value of imports for the first four months of 2015 stand at $20.38 billion, or 6.2% lower compared to $21.71 billion during the same period last year.
April also registered a balance of trade in goods deficit of $300.92 million, compared to $802.32 million in April last year. A deficit means that the value of imports stands greater than the value of the country’s exports.
Electronic products, such as semiconductors, accounted for the greatest share (21.2%) of April’s imports with value amounting to $991.05 million. That’s a 5.1% decline from April 2014’s $1.05 billion.
Mineral fuels, lubricants, and related materials took the second biggest share (14.1%) of the import bill, with a value of $661.39 million. The figure is a 53.9% drop from $1.35 billion in April 2014.
Transport equipment placed third with a 9.5% share valued at $443.80 million. The category also registered a decline of 16% from the previous year’s $528.35 million.
Despite the overall drop, double-digit increases were observed with the importation of consumer (30.3%) and capital (13%) goods.
In a statement, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) assured that the demand for capital and consumer goods “remains strong.”
“Figures on capital and consumer goods reflect the upbeat outlook of consumer spending and is a positive indication of healthy demand-driven activities at the household and industry level,” said Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.
“The higher import volume of rice recorded as part of consumer goods reflects government’s effort to maintain a sufficient buffer stock of rice ahead of the lean harvest season,” the Cabinet official said.
Earlier this year, the National Food Authority approved a shipment of 500,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam and Thailand, which began to arrive last March. NEDA said that for April, the share of rice purchases from these countries respectively represented about 70.6% and 29% of the country’s total imports of rice.
“Given an uncertain external environment, it is crucial for the government to ensure that the growth momentum is sustained. While the healthy importation of capital goods and consumer durables shows that the country is still on track towards a relatively strong economic expansion, a catch-up in government spending could still further boost domestic demand,” he said.
“The government could also fast track programs to counter the effects of extreme weather [conditions] especially on the agricultural and industrial sectors, which are vulnerable to such in the Philippines,” he said.
