THE state statistics bureau said that the Philippines' trade deficit had narrowed by 11 percent to $4.01 billion in December.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said that total exports had reached $5.78 billion in December, and is down by 0.5 percent from the $5.81 billion in December 2022.

Likewise, the PSA said that the total export earnings from January to December 2023 is at $73.52 billion, which is lower by 7.6 percent from 2022 numbers.

The PSA also said that the major export trading partners include Hong Kong, the United States, Japan, China, and South Korea. 

On the other hand, the total value of imported goods in December amounted to $9.79 billion, to which it recorded a 14.7 percent dip from the $10.32 billion in the same month in 2022.

Data from the PSA showed that from January to December 2023, the total import value reached $129.95 billion.

It fell behind by 8.2 percent from the $137.22 billion from January to December 2022.

Presently, China remains as the country's biggest supplier of imported goods at $2.28 billion, or 23.2 percent of the country's total imports in September.

The other major import partners include Japan, Indonesia, the United States, and Thailand.