EXPORTS in December fell nearly twice as much as forecast as the deepening global recession cut orders for electronics and clothing, the government said yesterday.

Overseas sales dropped 40.4 percent to $2.67 billion, a report by the National Statistics Office said, and it was the most since Bloomberg started tracking the data in 1981.

The median estimate of 10 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had been for a 23.9-percent decline.

The government predicts economic growth may weaken to the slowest pace in eight years in 2009 amid falling demand for the nation?s products and workers.

Companies might fire as many as 100,000 workers this year, Economic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto said on Jan. 29.

The Labor Department had earlier warned that 60,000 workers could lose their jobs in the electronics sector, which employs 480,000.

?The numbers will get worse before they get better,? said Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB-GK Securities in Singapore.

?Full-year exports will likely be in the red. With many facilities running at significantly reduced capacity, it?s not promising on the job front.?

Amkor Technology Inc., which makes semiconductor components, has cut 1,500 jobs at its two Philippine plants, Agence France-Press reported last week, adding to job cuts by manufacturers including Intel Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc.

Overseas shipments dropped 11.4 percent in November and declined 2.9 percent to $49 billion for the year.

The government forecasts exports will rise between 1 percent and 3 percent this year, according to Dennis Arroyo, policy and planning director of the National Economic and Development Authority.

But electronics exports, which make up about 60 percent of the total, may drop 8 percent, the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines association said in December.

Electronics shipments declined 48 percent to $1.34 billion in December. Exports of clothing fell 11 percent to $160 million.

Sales to the US dropped 21 percent to $574 million. Shipments to Japan declined 28 percent to $458 million, and exports to China fell 58 percent to $217 million. Bloomberg with Roderick T. dela Cruz