Imports fall 8% in January

Mar 26, 2013 11:02 AM PHT

Rappler.com

SUMMARY

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Electronics shipments fall by double digits

LOWER IMPORTS. The country's merchandise imports declines 8% in January 2013. Photo by AFP

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Merchandise imports posted their first drop in 5 months in January due to a double-digit decline in shipments of electronics.

Data from the National Statistics Office showed imports fell 8% to $4.724 billion in January from $5.133 billion in the same month of 2012. This was the first drop since August 2012, when imports fell 0.4%. It was the steepest drop since April 2012, when imports contracted 13.6%.

Electronics shipments, which accounted for 24.4% of the total import bill, went down 14.4% to $1.150 billion from $1.343 billion in January 2012. – Rappler.com