Container vans are stacked at the Port Area as seen from Road 10 in Tondo, Manila, on June 20. -- Noel B. Pabalate, The Philippine Star  

The Philippines’ trade deficit widened to $5.48 billion in May from a year ago, as imports grew faster than exports, preliminary data from the statistics agency showed.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday showed the country’s trade in goods deficit ballooned by 50.5% to $5.48 billion in May from $3.64 billion in the same month a year ago.

Month on month, the trade gap narrowed from $6.43 billion in April.

Imports jumped by an annual 21.9% to $13.35 billion in May, while exports rose by 7.6% to $7.88 billion. — CRAG

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