By Karl Lester M. Yap and Max Estayo
Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Philippine exports fell for a tenth month, extending the longest slump in seven years and suggesting a nascent recovery in the global economy has yet to revive demand for Asian-made electronics and other goods.
Shipments abroad dropped 25.4 percent from a year earlier to $3.31 billion in July after declining 24.8 percent the previous month, the National Statistics Office said in Manila today. That compares with the median forecast for a 20.8 percent plunge in a Bloomberg News survey of eight economists.
The government has trimmed its 2009 economic forecast three times this year as the global slump crimped orders for Philippine-produced Texas Instruments Inc. semiconductors and Gap Inc. clothes. The central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at a record-low of 4 percent last month after economic growth accelerated to 1.5 percent in the second quarter.
“The recovery in exports will not be a sustained one,” said Carlos Ylagan, a treasurer at BPI Investment Management Inc. in Manila. “We will have some corrections along the way. We may see a W-shaped recovery.”
Worldwide semiconductor sales fell 18 percent in July from a year earlier, according to the San Jose, California-based Semiconductor Industry Association.
Electronics sales, which make up more than half of Philippine exports, fell 25.2 percent to $1.92 billion in July from a year earlier, today’s report showed.
To contact the reporter on this story: Karl Lester M. Yap in Manila at kyap5@bloomberg.net.
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