Philippine imports up 4.3% in Oct.

Philippine import bill in October went up by 4.3 percent on year to 5.23 billion U.S. dollars on higher purchases of metals, electronics, and cereals such as wheat and corn, the National Statistics Office said Friday. According to the National Statistics Office, payment for electronic products, which accounted for nearly a third of the country's import bill, increased by 8.7 percent on year to 1.34 billion U.S. dollars. On a month on month basis, Philippine imports went down by 0.5 percent compared with the previous month's level of 5.26 billion U. S dollars. Most of the Philippine imports came from the United States, China and Japan. The trade deficit in October declined to 832 million U.S. dollars from last year's 869 million U.S. dollars.