MANILA, May 26 (PNA) – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on Wednesday said the Philippine merchandise imports in March grew 38.9 percent to $ 4.5 billion.

"With robust gains from all major commodity groups, particularly capital goods, consumer goods, and mineral fuels and lubricants, inward shipments for the month recorded the highest year-on-year increase since January 2003," said Acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Augusto B. Santos in a statement.

Capital goods grew by 38.5 percent for the month of March. Items that led the growth in capital goods were telecommunications equipment and electrical machinery, power generating and specialized machines, and office and electronic data processing (EDP) machines.

Strong domestic demand for durable and non-durable goods fueled a growth rate of 68.2 percent for consumer goods imports. Sustaining imports of durable goods were passenger cars and motorized cycles, which grew by 84.8 percent.

On the other hand, all commodities under non-durable goods posted positive growth rates, led by rice imports.

In addition, mineral fuels and lubricants imports for the month of March rose by 63.4 percent year-on-year as inward shipments of petroleum crude swelled by 150.3 percent.

Santos said that the growth in petroleum crude imports "may be traced to the hike in petroleum prices as the world economy recovered from the global downturn in 2009."

Additionally, growth in manufactured imports was supported by increased overseas purchases of raw materials for local electrical equipment manufactures.

"The strong demand for raw material for local electrical equipment reflects a strong post-crisis rebound of the local electronics sector," Santos said.

Meanwhile, Japan continued to be the Philippines’ primary import source with a 13.2 percent share in March 2010. Japan was followed by the United States (10.0%), Singapore (7.8%), Republic of Korea (7.5%), and China (6.8%).

Telecommunication equipment and electrical machinery, raw materials for electronic manufactures, and miscellaneous mineral fuels and lubricant covered 49.8 percent of the payments to the top five import sources in March 2010.

Inward cargoes from the rest of ASEAN amounted to 28.6 percent of the total merchandise imports in March.

The Philippines followed the double-digit import growth trend of its neighbors with Indonesia (68.6%), China (66%), Taiwan (66%), and Thailand (50.3%) leading the East and Southeast Asian region.

Imports for the first quarter of 2010 reached 32.7 percent more than in the same period in 2009. This brings the first quarter trade deficit to $1.4 billion, $270 million less compared to the same period in 2009. ■

MANILA, May 19 – Tourism receipts, revenues from the various business process outsourcing units and foreign loan proceeds formed part of the huge balance of payments surplus of $ 982 million in April.

This helped boost the four-month BOP surplus to $ 2.345 billion, which was 6.7 percent higher than year-ago level of only $ 2.198 billion.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas released documents on Thursday showing the BOP posting an initial surplus amounting to $ 1.233 billion in January followed quickly by a deficit amounting to $ 125 million by February.

This reverted to a surplus of $ 255 million in March but surged to $ 982 million in April.

"The BOP surplus for the month of April reflects the continued resiliency of the Philippines’ external position. We saw exports recovering sharply, of remittances continuing to surge, the BPOs remaining strong and tourist receipts sustaining momentum," Deputy BSP governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said via e-mail.

"On top of that, we also witnessed inflows of foreign borrowings and investments supporting the BOP position," he quickly added.

The surplus is indicative of an economy generating far more foreign exchange revenues than expenses for the period from activities such as overseas loans by government or private sector entities, tourist receipts and foreign direct or portfolio investments, among other sources.

It was earlier seen rising to a surplus totaling at least $ 3.7 billion this year, an upward adjustment from original forecast surplus of just $ 3.2 billion.

Much of that is owed to foreign funds flowing back to emerging market economies seeking higher yield than could be found in developed markets like the United States and the euro area which continue to pull themselves out of a period of economic contraction.

The Philippines ended 2009 with a BOP surplus reaching $ 5.295 billion, an all-time high.

BSP governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said the lower BOP surplus this year was a "conservative estimate" and the result of expectations the trade deficit will widen again as imports rise to help feed an economic recovery.

Local output measured as the gross domestic product or GDP proved resilient but slowed to just 0.9 percent last year when most economies in the region and around the world posted contractions. (PNA) ■