Philippine export revenues $9bn

Philippine export revenues in 2014 will likely grow by 10 percent year on year on the back of the recovery of the electronics sector, a senior government official said Monday. Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo also said the depreciation of the peso will boost exports as it will make locally-made products more competitive. "Exports will grow by more than 10 percent this year because the electronics sector is now on the rebound. Also, the depreciation of the peso will make our products cheaper and easier to sell abroad," said Domingo. Figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the country's revenues from exports grew by 24.4 percent on year to 4.65 billion U.S. dollars in February. PSA said export revenues rose to a three-year high in February due to the increase in the shipments of all major commodities, particularly electronic products. Shipments of electronic products, which remained as the country 's top export, went up by 26.6 percent on year to 1.88 billion U.S. dollars. It accounted for 40 percent of total export revenues in February. Export revenues for the first two months of 2014 amounted to 9. 03 billion U.S. dollars, 16.53 percent higher than the 7.75 million U.S. dollars registered in the same period last year. PSA figures showed that receipts from electronic products in January to February grew by nearly 24 percent on year to 3.66 billion U.S. dollars.