Nov trade deficit widens

trade transactions with East Asia and the Association of Southeast performance of imports, which also signaled an increase in the purchasing power of Filipinos.

due to higher demand for capital goods, consumer goods, raw materials and intermediate goods, and mineral fuels and lubricants.

11-month deficit

trade gap expanded by 109 percent to $22.36 billion from $10.65 billion a year earlier.

Total merchandise exports in January to November dropped 5.2 percent to $51.36 billion from $54.16 billion.

Cumulative imports climbed 13.7 percent to $73.72 billion from trade in November grew by 7.3 percent to $12.03 billion from $11.21 billion a year earlier, pushing the 11-month to tal to $125.08 billion.

Imports may moderate

Although imports surged for the most part of 2016, Singaporean growth will continue to remain above 10 percent.

For 2017, it said imports growth may moderate to 2 percent.

“Other than the high base ef- fects, a couple of reasons are at play. On effective exchange rate basis, the peso has now lost more than 5 percent of its value since its 2016 peak,” it said.

Even if underlying demand remains strong, a weaker currency may weigh on import demand, at least on the margins, it explained.

“More importantly, inventory de-stocking looks imminent this year. This is set to moderate import demand for capital goods, strong growth of which has buoyed overall import growth over the past two years,” it added.

Gov’t strategy

“While we are expanding our trade relations with potential markets, we need to further harness our existing free trade agreements and continue to push for reforms. This will improve our business environment and increase our attractiveness to foreign investors,”

The performance of agro- industry products are seen to further increase with renewed and improving relations with China and Russia.

growth outlook, paired with the upcoming Asean integration, is the perfect opportunity to expand the exports portfolio.

“We must continue to develop our infrastructure and encourage product differentiation and micro, small, and medium enterprises for the upcoming increase in demand from our new trading partners,” he added. place from the beginning. MaiSigue-Bisnarisapartner, Audit&Assurance,andhead