Trade deficit at $4.93 in March

The Philippines’ trade deficit settled at $4.93 billion in March, higher by 7.5 percent as imports continued to outpace exports, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority released on Tuesday showed. Trade deficit or the balance of trade in goods is the difference between the value of export and import.

Total export sales reached $6.53 billion, lower by 9.1 per- cent compared to the same period last year, which brought the January to March total to $16.86 billion, the PSA said.

China contributed the highest to the total export value with $1.42 billion or a share of 21.8 percent, data showed, followed by Japan, the US, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Total imports, meanwhile, amounted to $11.46 billion in March, lower by 2.7 percent,