MANILA, 4 October 2003 — Philippine exports continued to slip in August as electronics shipments dropped sharply, the government said yesterday, raising fears that a recovery in this key sector will fail to materialize this year.
The National Statistics Office (NSO) said August 2003 exports fell 2.2 percent from a year earlier to $2.966 billion following a 7.9 percent decline in July.
Total exports for the eight months to August this year of $23.002 billion were only marginally higher than the $22.967 billion posted in the same period last year, an NSO statement said.
The fall in August exports was attributed to a slump in the dominant electronics sector, which was down 7.2 percent to $1.907 billion compared to last year, the NSO said.
Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas, however, remained optimistic that export growth could still reach five percent by the end of the year, remarking that there were signs of an impending recovery in the last four months of 2003.
“Holiday consumer spending across all markets and the (traditional) increases in year-end inventories ... will almost certainly (enable) our electronics business to” get through this patch, Roxas said in a statement.
Analysts expressed disappointment with the continuing poor showing of exports which were widely expected to recover in the latter part of the year as the economies of developing countries started picking up.
Victor Abola, an economist of the University of Asia and the Pacific, blamed the failed military mutiny on July 27 and the subsequent political uncertainties ahead of the 2004 presidential elections for the poor export performance.
The United States remained the country’s biggest market in August, accounting for 20.83 percent of total exports.
Japan and the Netherlands and Hong Kong were second and third largest respectively.
