MANILA - Philippine exports and imports will slip more than previously forecast in 2009, but should recover in 2010, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando Tetangco said on Wednesday.

Tetangco told reporters that exports should fall 20% this year but grow 7% in 2010. Imports, on the other hand, are seen fall 17% this year and grow 13% next year.

Earlier, the BSP said exports are likely to fall 13% to 15% this year, while imports are expected to decline by 8% to 12%.

Exports continued to suffer a double-digit year-on-year drop in August due to weak sales of electronic products, but the decline was slower than the previous month's, data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed.

The total export bill for the month fell 21% to $3.47 billion year-on-year, but this was better than the 25.4% contraction recorded in July.

For the first 8 months of 2009, the country's merchandise exports fell 30.3% to $24 billion.

Earier, industry players expressed optimism that exports of electronics and semiconductors would rise in the third quarter from the previous quarter on growing demand. Electronics products take up a huge chunk of the country's total export revenues.

"Initially, we thought it was a lot of inventory rebuilding and restocking, but I think that we are past that, I think there is really demand," Arthur Young, chairman of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI), said.

SEIPI has maintained its forecast of a 15% to 20% fall in electronics exports this year.