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Philippine exports down by 17.4 pct in May

Xinhua, July 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Philippine exports fell year-on- year by 17.4 percent in May to 4.9 billion U.S. dollars, its sharpest drop since December 2011, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Friday.

"The negative growth was mainly brought about by the decrease of seven major commodities out of the top ten commodities for the month," the agency said.

The commodities that recorded decline include mineral products, which decreased by 66.5 percent to 209.7 million U.S. dollars. Machinery and transport equipment decreased by 34.3 percent to 258. 33 million U.S. dollars while other manufactures dropped 24.9 percent to 394.21 U.S. dollars.

Combined merchandise exports for the first five months of this year registered a 5.0-percent decrease to 23.53 billion U.S. dollars from 24.77 billion U.S. dollars a year earlier.

National Economic and Development Authority Officer-in-Charge and Deputy Director General Emmanuel Esguerra said the recent outturn of Philippine exports, as well as in many Asian economies, reflects the general market outlook and consensus in the near term, signaling a slowdown of the global economy.

"Slowdown in global trade due to the weakening of China as well as the fiscal crisis in the Eurozone will certainly spill over globally, although the magnitude of the impact remains to be seen, " Esguerra said.

He added that policy makers should remain vigilant on the possible outcome of these external developments and how they may impact the trade competitiveness of the country as well as the domestic economy. Endi