The Philippines' total external trade in goods in August declined at an annual rate of 21.0 percent to 12.33 billion U.S. dollars, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday. "This was higher than its previous month's annual drop of 18.1 percent, and 2.6 percent drop in August 2019," the PSA said in a statement. Of the total external trade in August 2020, the PSA said 58.4 percent were imported goods and the rest were exported goods. The PSA said the balance of trade in goods, or the difference between the value of export and import, in August amounted to -2.08 billion U.S. dollars, representing a trade deficit with an annual decline of 30.9 percent.
In July, the PSA said the trade deficit fell at a faster rate of 48.9 percent, and at a slower rate in August 2019 at 16.5 percent. Exports declined 18.6 percent in August, amounting to 5.13 billion U.S. dollars, from 9.1 percent drop a month ago. In August 2019, export performance gained at a rate of 1.4 percent. The export earnings in August marked the sixth month in a row in which value of export contracted. The total imported goods in August, which amounted to 7.20 billion U.S. dollars, remained at downtrend with an annual rate of 22.6 percent. The PSA said the value of imports contracted for the 16th straight month in August. In the previous month, the PSA said "the decline was higher at 23.8 percent, while in August 2019, imports decreased by 5.2 percent annually."