MANILA, April 8 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' total external trade in goods grew 0.6 percent in February from a year earlier to 12.91 billion U.S. dollars, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday.
Of the total external trade in February, the PSA said imported goods accounted for 58.9 percent. Balance of trade in goods, or the difference between the value of export and import, amounted to -2.29 billion U.S. dollars, representing a trade deficit with an annual increase of 16.5 percent.
By trading partners, China was the country's biggest supplier of imported goods.
Meanwhile, the performance of manufacturing production in the Philippines further contracted in February, added the PSA.
Based on the preliminary results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI), the PSA said the year-on-year value of production index (VaPI) and the volume of production index (VoPI) have remained at a downward trend, declining by 46.5 percent and 43.6 percent in February, respectively.
"The decline in VaPI for manufacturing sector in this period was due to the negative annual growth rates in the indices of 20 out of 22 industry divisions," the PSA said. Enditem
