Pasay City: Services sector will keep the country’s export revenues afloat despite the challenging performance of outbound shipment of goods, a senior trade official said Monday. Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Director Bianca Sykimte told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Pasay City that services exports in 2024 grew 7.5 percent to USD52 billion, the first time it breached the USD50-billion mark, from USD48 billion in 2023.

According to Philippines News Agency, export revenues of goods, based on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) external accounts data, slipped by 0.4 percent to USD55 billion last year from USD55.26 billion in 2023. With the continued growth of the services sector, its share of the total USD107 billion export revenues expanded to 48.6 percent in 2024.

“Even during the pandemic, it’s the services sector that grew while goods had a little bit dwindling and erratic performance,” Sykimte said in mixed English and Filipino. “We can say that it’s really the services sector that’s really pulling up the exports. We’re confident about the prospects of our services sector,” she added.

Sykimte mentioned that simulations, assumptions, and mitigating measures were presented to the Export Development Council Executive Committee two weeks ago to be considered for the revision of export targets. Preliminary figures are expected to come out next month, she added.