Trade gap narrows to $4.35 billion

THE PHILIPPINES’ trade deficit in goods narrowed in September, as exports posted double-digit growth, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday.

- By Isa Jane D. Acabal

Preliminary data from the PSA showed the country’s trade-ingoods balance — the difference between exports and imports — stood at a deficit of $4.35 billion in September, 14.7% smaller than the $5.1-billion deficit a year earlier.

Month on month, the trade gap widened to a two-month high from the revised $3.99 billion in August.

The latest figure was the widest trade deficit since the $4.42-bil-lion gap in July 2025.

In the January-to-September period, the trade deficit narrowed to $37.18 billion, down 5.7% from the $39.43-billion gap in the same period last year.

The country’s trade balance has been in deficit for over a decade or since the $64.95-million surplus recorded in May 2015.

Total outbound sales of Philippine-made goods climbed by 15.9% year on year in September to $7.25 billion, faster than the 5.5% increase in August and a reversal from the 7.6% drop in September 2024.

It was the quickest pace for exports in two months or since the 17.6% growth in July.

Year to date, exports increased by 13.1% to $63.02 billion.

On the other hand, merchandise imports jumped by 2.1% year on year in September, a turnaround from the revised 0.3% drop in August but slower than the 10.1% expansion a year ago.

The import bill in September reached $11.6 billion — the biggest in two months since $11.77 billion in July.

In the first nine months, imports rose by 5.3% to $100.19 billion.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee projects a 2% contraction in exports and 3.5% growth in imports this year.

“The trade deficit slimmed on a yearly basis as exports growth outpaced imports growth. Exports (were) likely buoyed as foreign businesses stocked up ahead of the (fourth-quarter) holiday rush and with more certainty regarding the US tariff situation,” Marco Antonio C. Agonia, an economist from the University of Asia and the Pacific, said in an email.