MANILA, Dec 28: Philippine merchandise imports rose 9.6 per cent year-on-year to 5.1 billion dollars in October due largely to the sharp rise in oil imports and capital goods, the National Statistics Office said on Friday.

The October figure was also slightly higher than the 8.9 per cent rise in imports posted in September, the government agency said in a statement.

Imports of electronic components, which accounted for 45.5 per cent of the import bill, were down 4.8 per cent from a year earlier to 2.3 billion dollars.

Such components are used in electronics products, the country’s biggest exports.

The lower electronics imports could be a sign of lower orders for Philippine electronic exports, analysts warned.

“It suggests that Philippine exports may also slow in the coming months,” said Christopher Wong of HSBC in Hong Kong.

However, imports of mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials, which accounted for 18.5 per cent of total imports, jumped 68.4 per cent to 952.3 million dollars.

Capital goods, which comprised 31.4 per cent of total imports in October, rose 4.1 per cent to 1.6 billion dollars. The bulk of these goods consisted of aircraft and tankers.

The trade deficit for October rose slightly to 489 million dollars, compared with a deficit of 479 million dollars in the same period last year.

This brought the trade deficit for the first 10 months of 2007 to 3.37 billion dollars, slightly lower than the deficit of 3.53 billion dollars over the same period in 2006.—AFP