Philippine Export Growth Accelerates to 14-Year High

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Philippine exports rose at the fastest pace in more than 14 years in January as demand for electronics goods gained amid the global economic recovery.

Shipments abroad increased 42.5 percent from a year earlier to $3.58 billion, the National Statistics Office said in Manila today. That compares with the median forecast for a 30.2 percent gain in a Bloomberg News survey of nine economists.

Rising exports, which account for about a third of the Philippines’s $167 billion economy, are helping spur growth after expansion slowed to an 11-year low of 0.9 percent in 2009. The central bank will consider unwinding some of its stimulus measures even as it may keep interest rates unchanged to support the recovery, Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said this week.

“Strong exports should help maintain or create jobs as it trickles into the economy,” Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at Banco de Oro Unibank Inc., said before the report. “It’s a clear sign that there is recovery, supporting the central bank’s decision to start its exit strategy.”

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas earlier this year raised the rediscounting rate, one of the interest rates it charges lenders for borrowing money from the central bank, by half a percentage point to 4 percent. The central bank will probably keep benchmark borrowing costs at a record-low 4 percent for a sixth straight meeting tomorrow, economists forecast.

Record-low interest rates and increased government spending around the world have revived demand for Philippine-made Texas Instruments Inc. semiconductors and The Gap Inc. clothing. Worldwide semiconductor sales rose 47.2 percent in January from a year earlier, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.