The Development Budget and Coordination Committee (DBCC) has reduced its exports growth assumptions. From -8.0 to -6.0 percent for 2009, lower than the 1.0 to 3.0 percent set in November last year. This information was stated by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) office.
The National Statistics Office (NSO) reported that exports continued to drop in January 2009, falling by 41.0 percent compared to the same month in 2008. The year-on-year decline was attributed to the sharp reduction in exports of all major commodity groups.
Exports of manufactured products fell by 39.9 percent in January 2009, contributing to the decline in manufacturing include: garments (-21.6%) and electronic products (-48.4%). The bulk of the decline in exports of electronic products may be traced to the poor performance of semiconductors (-52.7%), the largest electronics product segment.
Other factors contributing to the decline in total exports receipts were petroleum products, forest products, mineral products, and total agro-based products. (NEDA-PIA)
