The country’s trade deficit widened in May as the growth in imports outpaced exports, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority released Tuesday showed.

The trade deficit widened to $5.68 billion in May from $4.77 billion in April, data from the PSA said.

May’s trade gap is 78.6 percent higher year-on-year.

Imports or external trade for May hit $18.30 billion or a 21.5 percent annual growth rate, data showed.

Meanwhile, total exports sales in May amounted to $6.31 billion or 6.2 percent higher than the previous month.

By commodity group, electronic products remain the country’s top export in May, while manufactured goods held the biggest share in total exports in terms of type of goods, the PSA said.

United States contributed the highest export value followed by Japan, Hong Kong, China and Singapore, data showed.