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Philippine imports down by 13.4 pct in May

Xinhua, July 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Philippine imports fell year-on- year by 13.4 percent to 4.39 billion U.S. dollars in May, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Friday.

The drop was due to negative performance of eight out of the top 10 major imported commodities for the month.

According to PSA, transport equipment, mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, and iron and steel dropped by 32 percent, 24.8 percent and 19.1 percent respectively.

On the other hand, imported capital goods sustained its double- digit growth for the fourth straight month at 12.8 percent.

From January to May, total imports amounted to 24.8 billion U.S. dollars, down by 7.4 percent compared with 26.78 billion U.S. dollars during the same period last year.

China remained the country's biggest source of imports with 16. 4 percent share in May.

Payments were recorded at 719.92 million U.S. dollars, a decrease of 1 percent from 727.4 million U.S. dollars in May 2014.

Despite lower payments for merchandise imports, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said more goods are actually being purchased as business sector sentiment for the quarter remains bullish.

"This is driven by expected robust demand from consumers, expected uptick in construction-related activities and the higher volume of production from the manufacturing sector," he said. Endi