Total trade for the first two months of 1997 amounted to $8.969 billion, an increase of 17.9 percent over $7.610 billion recorded during the same period in 1996. Payments for imported goods increased by 18.9 percent to $5.464 billion from $4.596 billion while receipts from exports improved by 16.3 percent to $3.505 billion from $3.014 billion. The balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) was in deficit increasing by 23.9 percent to $1.960 billion from $1.582 billion from last year.

Merchandise trade for the first month of 1997 grew by 23.9 percent to $4.529 billion from the year-ago level of $3.656 billion. Export receipts went up by 19.2 percent to $1.692 billion while payments for imports rose by 26.9 percent to $2.837 billion. The balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) was in deficit, increasing by 40.3 percent to $1.145 billion from $816.0 million last year.

Total external trade in goods for March 2009 reached $6.176 billion, representing a 33.8 percent decline from $9.323 billion recorded during the same month in 2008. This was attributed to the 36.2 percent decrease of total imports to $3.269 billion from $5.123 billion reported in March 2008. Similarly, total exports went down by 30.8 percent to $2.907 billion from $4.200 billion recorded a year earlier. Thus, the balance of trade in goods (BOT-G) for the Philippines in March 2009 registered a $363 million deficit from $923 million deficit in the same period last year.