Trade deficit soars to $2.42B in Jan

THE country’s trade gap in January widened in one year as the value of imports remained higher than exports, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data showed on Friday.

According to the statistics agency, inbound and outbound shipments plunged by 14.9 percent year-on-year to $7.91 billion and by 5.2 percent to $5.48 billion respectively.

This resulted in a shortfall of $2.42 billion in the first month of 2021, lower than $3.50 billion a year ago but bigger than $2.14 billion last December. It is the widest trade gap recorded since January 2020.