Philippine import growth in 2011 eased by 9.5 percent on year to 60.14 billion U.S. dollars, the National Statistics Office reported Tuesday.
For the month of December alone, the country's import bill declined 6.5 percent on year to 4.63 billion dollars.
Payment for electronic products, which account for nearly 30 percent of the Philippine import bill, declined 25.9 percent on year to 1.26 billion dollars in December. But imports of fuels, industrial equipment and cereals expanded.
Most of the Philippine imports came from Japan, the United States, Republic of Korea, Singapore and China.
The trade deficit for the period ending December expanded to 12. 097 billion dollars, compared to the 3.44 billion dollars trade gap in 2010./.