Philippines posts $4.6 billion trade deficit in December

January 26, 2023 - 1:29 PM
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Trading boats
The economic impact of the intensifying trade war between Washington and Beijing appeared to deepen last month with factory activity and export orders weakening across Asia. (Philstar/File photo)

The Philippines posted a trade deficit of $4.6 billion for December PHTBAL=ECI, the biggest trade gap in three months, government data showed on Thursday.

That brought the full-year trade deficit to $58.3 billion compared with the 2021 gap of $42.2 billion.

Imports in December PHIMP=ECI declined 9.9% to $10.3 billion from a year earlier, the deepest decline since January 2021, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.

Exports PHEXP=ECI fell 9.7% to $5.7 billion, the sharpest drop since August 2020.

—Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor