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MANILA - (UPDATED 5:32 p.m.) Exports growth slowed sharply at the close of the second quarter as electronics shipments contracted at a brisker pace, the National Statistics Office said on Friday.
In a report, the NSO said the value of outbound shipments of Philippine-made goods grew by 4.2 percent year-on-year last June, down from 19.7 percent in May.
This led first-half exports growth to settle at 7.7 percent, below the government's full-year forecast of 10 percent.
June's sharp slowdown was in spite of the double-digit increases in non-electronics exports, which in May helped fuel a near 20 percent increase in shipments abroad.
Electronics, which accounts for 43.8 percent of the country's total exports revenue, fell 14.6 percent in June, contracting at a faster rate than the 0.7 percent in May.
Ernesto Santiago, president of the Semiconductors and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, blamed the drop in exports on “base effects.”
“June of last year was the highest export month in 2011," he told InterAksyon.com on Friday.
He warned that July exports may also be lower as the same month last year was likewise a "high export month.”
Despite this, Seipi expects exports in the second half to be “higher than the second half of 2011." Seipi maintains a 5-6 percent growth forecast for this year.
With a report from Ben Arnold O. De Vera
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