Philippine imports soar 22.6 pct in June

Philippine imports recovered in June, posting a 22.6 percent increase from a year ago level, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Tuesday.

Imports in June amounted to 5.919 billion U.S. dollars from 4. 829 billion U.S. dollars in the same month last year, owing to the increases of raw materials and intermediate goods, capital goods and consumer goods, which rose by 49.2 percent, 23.8 percent and 13.1 percent, respectively.

These increases together made up for the continuing decline in the import value of mineral fuels and lubricants, which dropped 21. 9 percent in June.

However, for the first semester, imports amounted to 30.724 billion U.S. dollars, a 2.8 percent decrease compared with 31.611 billion U.S. dollars in the same period of last year.

Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan welcomed the improvement on the country's imports in June after three consecutive months of contraction since March.

"The significant surge of import payments signals improvement in the external environment. The increase in importation of raw materials leads us to expect a sustained growth of domestic production while the acquisition of capital goods indicates positive investor confidence," he said.

Accounting for 48.9 percent of the country's total imports, payments for raw materials and intermediate goods posted a positive turnaround, after declining for three consecutive months, at 2.9 billion U.S. dollars in June 2015 from 1.9 billion U.S. dollars a year ago.

Moreover, payments for imported capital goods continue to pose double-digit increase for five successive months at 1.3 billion U. S. dollars in June this year from 1.1 billion U.S. dollars from the same month last year. Endi