PH trade surges 10% in August

The country’s total trade surged significantly in August 2017 on the back of sustained growth in exports and imports, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Tuesday. (Photo by Marlon E/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

MANILA — The country’s total trade surged significantly in August 2017 on the back of sustained growth in exports and imports, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Tuesday.

PSA, an attached agency of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said total trade grew by 10 percent during the month, a significant jump from June’s 1.5 percent and July’s 2.5-percent growth.

Exports recorded its ninth consecutive month of positive growth at 9.3 percent, but imports outpaced its growth surging by 10.5 percent. This resulted to a deficit in the country’s balance of trade in goods amounting to $2.41 billion in August 2017.

The PSA said export growth was mainly boosted by shipments to Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries and the European Union (EU).

NEDA Officer-in-Charge (OIC) and Undersecretary Rolando Tungpalan underscored the need of implementing trade-enhancing projects to boost productivity.

Tungpalan cited as examples the Philippine Customs and Trade Facilitation Project, and TradeNet, an online trading platform.

He said the World Bank-financed modernization plan for the Bureau of Customs (BOC) can boost the bureau’s efficiency, transparency and revenue collection through an updating of systems, procedures, and operational activities related to processing and clearance of imported and exported goods.

TradeNet, which is targeted to be operational by December, will enable faster electronic cross-border exchange of documents among ASEAN member states, he added.