Philippines posts $4 billion trade deficit in December, four-month low

MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines posted a trade deficit of $4.01 billion for December, its narrowest gap in four months, government data showed on Friday.

Imports in December declined 5.1% to $9.8 billion from a year earlier, while exports eased 0.5%, its slowest drop since posting an uptick in August, to $5.8 billion, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.

(Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales and Mikhail Flores; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)