Philippine import growth accelerated for the first time in five months in June as oil prices surged, widening the nation's trade deficit.
Overseas purchases rose 12.7 percent from a year earlier to US$5.3 billion, after gaining a revised 10.9 percent in May, the National Statistics Office said in Manila yesterday. That's the fastest pace since February.
Higher oil costs have stoked inflation in a nation that imports almost all its crude. A widening trade gap may exacerbate the peso's decline, making imports even more expensive after prices of oil, rice and other commodities rose to records this year.
"We did see a very sharp spike in oil prices then, passing through to higher inflation which may be having an impact on final demand of consumers and businesses," Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB-GK Securities Ltd in Singapore, told Bloomberg News.
The trade deficit widened to US$791 million in June from US$559 million a year earlier, the report showed. The shortfall for the first half of the year was US$3.93 billion, compared with US$906 million a year earlier.
