Trade deficit widens to $3.14B in March

THE country’s trade deficit widened to $3.14 billion in March from $2.34 billion a year ago and $2.79 billion in February as imports expanded and exports contracted, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday.

In a statement, the state-run statistics agency said total export sales in the third month of the year slipped by 2.5 percent to $5.88 billion from $6.02 billion in 2018, while inbound shipments increased by 7.8 percent to $9.01 billion from $8.36 billion year-on-year.