Philippines' trade deficit widens as imports surge

MANILA, Nov 07 (Xinhua): The Philippines' trade deficit widened in September this year as imports continued to surge outpacing exports that declined during the month, the government said on Wednesday.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the Philippines' deficit widened to 3.93 billion US dollars in September 2018, from the 1.75 billion US dollars deficit recorded in Sept. 2017.

The PSA said the Philippines' total external trade in goods in September 2018 amounted to 15.58 billion US dollars, reflecting an increase of 13.5 per cent from 13.72 billion US dollars recorded during the same month in 2017.

"Exports decline by 2.6 per cent while imports grow by 26.1 per cent," the PSA said in a statement.

Total exports valued at 5.83 billion US dollars in September 2018 declined by 2.6 per cent, from 5.99 billion US dollars in September 2017, the PSA said.