MANILA – The country's merchandise imports in February, this year, went up by 4.9 percent to $ 4.99 billion from last year's same period of $ 4.76 billion, according to the National Statistics Office.
On a monthly basis, imports fell 2.8 percent from $5.134 billion compared to previous month’s level. In the first two months of the year, imports inched up by 0.6 percent to $10.126 billion from $10.063 billion posted during the same two-month period in 2011.
Electronics, which accounted for 28.7 percent of the total imports, fell by 5.1 percent to $1.433 billion from last year's figure of $1.510 billion. However, on a monthly basis, it grew by 6.6 percent from $ 1.344 billion recorded in January 2012.
Imports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials also posted a negative annual growth rate of 2.8 percent from $1.034 billion in February 2011 to $1.006 billion in February 2012. Purchases of consumer goods amounted to $591.46 million, up 22.7 percent from $482.11 million in February last year.
In addition, imports of transport equipment and industrial machinery and equipment rose by 53.9 percent and 23.5 percent to $451.91 million and $252.13 million, respectively. Japan was the country’s biggest source of imports for February amounting to $667.15 million, higher by 27.2 percent from $524.51 million in February 2011.
This was followed by the United States, $542.76 million; People’s Republic of China, $ 589.00 million; and Singapore, $424.26 million.
Other major sources of imports for the month of February 2012 were Saudi Arabia, $352.46 million; Taiwan, $340.79 million; Thailand, $277.93 million; Malaysia (including Sabah and Sarawak), $224.93 million; and Indonesia, $218.47 million.
Payments for imports from the top 10 sources for February 2012 amounted to $3.852 billion or 77.2 percent of the total.*PNA
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