Trade deficit widens in February

The Philippines reported a wider trade deficit in February from a year ago as the growth of imports outpaced exports. The gap eased to its lowest level in nine months.

Preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the country’s trade-in-goods deficit widened by 23.1 percent to $3.68 billion year-on-year. This reversed the decreases recorded in previous months.

However, the February figure was narrower than the revised $4.27 billion deficit in January and marked the smallest gap since $3.64 billion in May 2025.

On a year-on-year basis, imports grew at a faster pace of 12.6 percent to $11.01 billion, although this was the lowest level since November 2025.

Exports, meanwhile, rose by 8 percent to $7.33 billion, the highest level since October 2025.