Date:
May 2003
RP Incurs US$219 Million Trade Deficit in 2002
The
final revision of the government's trade statistics
shows that the Philippines actually incurred
a trade deficit of US$219 million in 2002,
as opposed to the US$1.49 billion trade surplus
as earlier reported.
In its final foreign trade statistics report
for 2000 to 2002, the National Statistics
Office (NSO) said the country's exports in
2002 amounted to US$35.208 billion while its
imports reached US$35.427 billion.
While export data for 2002 were revised minimally
from US$35.066 billion to US$35.208 billion,
import data for the same year were heavily
revised from US$33.576 billion to an all-time
high of US$35.427 billion. This explains the
sudden and drastic change in the country's
balance of trade.
The NSO noted that the highest monthly adjustment
of imports in 2002 was posted in August amounting
to US$221 million while the lowest was in
January at US$75 million. The largest surplus
was recorded in January at US$541 million
while the deepest deficit was in April at
US$696 million.
It was the second consecutive year that the
country incurred a trade deficit. The NSO
said that in 2001, the Philippines actually
had a deficit of US$907 million, a sharp turnaround
from the original report of US$2.599 billion
surplus.
While export data for 2001 were not changed,
imports were significantly revised from US$29.551
billion to US$33.057 billion or a huge adjustment
of around US$3.5 billion.
In 2001, the lowest adjustment was US$170
million registered in October while the highest
was in January at US$559 million. The largest
monthly surplus was recorded in November at
US$413 million while the deepest deficit was
in April at US$859 million.
The country's trade surplus in 2000 also went
down by almost half from US$6.691 billion
to US$3.587 billion after the NSO revised
the import data from US$31.387 billion to
US$34.491 billion. Export figures for 2000
were kept unchanged.
In 2000, the adjustment ranged from a low
of US$166 million in March to a high of US$423
million in October. The largest monthly surplus
was recorded in December at US$878 million
while the deepest deficit was in January at
US$184 million
.
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