April imports up by 3%

MANILA, Philippines - The country's merchandise imports for April increased by 3 percent to $5.309 billion from the $5.153 billion posted a year ago, the Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) announced on Wednesday.

"The increase in total imports was due to the positive performance of six out of the top ten major commodities for the month. These are: plastics in primary and non-primary forms; iron and steel; telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery; mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials; organic and inorganic chemicals; and other food and live animals," PSA said.

The country's cumulative imports since January this year amounted to $21.53 billion, a 9.9-percent jump from the $19.59 billion posted in the same period in 2013. Meanwhile, the balance of goods in April posted a $743-million deficit, higher than the $647-million deficit a year ago.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said imports are expected to expand in the coming months due to favorable business and consumer outlook.

“This expectation is backed by surveys conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which showed that the overall confidence index of businesses rose to 50.7 percent in the second quarter of 2014 from 37.8 percent in the first quarter and is expected to be sustained in the third quarter,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA Director-General Arsenio Balisacan said.

He added that a rise in imports of capital goods may be expected in the near-term as a result of the expansion plans of businesses in the industry sector for the next two quarters.

"The re-fleeting program of airline companies in line with increasing their flight routes alongside the anticipated rise in purchases of power generating sets to augment the power supply in the country is expected to boost imports of capital goods," Balisacan said.

Imported merchandise on mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials was the top imported commodity in April 2014, accounting for 27 percent or $1.433 billion of the total import bill, PSA noted. This was followed by electronic products, transport equipment, industrial machinery and equipment, and plastics in primary and non-primary forms.

China was the country's top import source with a 15.7-percent share in the total. This was followed by Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan and the United States of America.