Imports grow for fifth straight month in October

MANILA, Philippines – Imports sustained their strong momentum in October, rising for the fifth straight month to outpace the rest of Asia, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.

The PSA said demand for imported goods in October increased 16.8 percent to $6.5 billion, from $5.6 billion a year ago. This brought aggregate imports in the first 10 months of 2015 to $56.527 billion, a 3.9-percent hike from $54.392 billion in the same period last year.

The double-digit growth in October was backed significantly by higher importation of raw materials and intermediate goods (up 40.1 percent), capital goods (up 25.4 percent) and consumer goods (up 4.1 percent).

The Philippines outpaced its Asian peers as other trade-oriented economies registered declines in imports. Vietnam, which posted positive growth in the previous months along with the Philippines, was marginally down 1.8 percent last October.

Economic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) secretary general Arsenio M. Balisacan said the continuing resurgence of imports is a healthy indication of robust investment demand as it continues to be driven by intermediate and capital goods.

“The anticipated recovery of the global economy, and brisk election spending will continue to drive imports to double-digit growth,” he said.

Import payments for raw materials and intermediate goods, which account for 42.8 percent of the country’s total merchandise imports, increased by $2.8 billion in October 2015.

The value of imported capital goods, which account for 32.3 percent of total merchandise imports, increased to $2.1 billion in October this year.

Imports of capital goods have been expanding at double-digit rates since March 2015, indicating an overall positive investments growth in 2015.

“Increasing appetite for capital goods and manufactured goods, such as materials accounting for the manufacture of electrical equipment, signifies an upbeat business sector. This demonstrates the overall business confidence growth of 51.3 percent recorded in the fourth quarter this year from 41.4 percent in the previous quarter, as reported by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. This is the highest we had in the last two years,” Balisacan said.

Moreover, import bill for consumer goods increased 4.1 percent to $1.1 billion in October, while total import payments for mineral fuels and lubricants declined 38.5 percent to $524.8 million, mostly by the volume purchases and price decline of petroleum crude.

“On the back of a weak global environment, the strong growth in shipments of capital goods and consumer goods points to a resilient domestic economy. Supportive policies for a thriving business sector should be continued. These include lowering the cost of and reducing the time for starting a business, reducing red tape and transaction costs, and supporting innovation and technological improvements, among others,” Balisacan said.