Imports of oil derivatives, a proxy of economic activity and one of the constituents of the coincident indicator, rose by 11.31% in March 2025 to 537,903 metric tons, compared to 483,263 metric tons a month earlier. On a cumulative basis, the imports of oil derivatives soared by 36.23% in the first quarter of 2025 to 1.72 million tons compared to 1.26 million tons in the same quarter in 2024. The five-year trend depicted by the chart below, however, shows a downward trajectory in the import of oil derivatives reflected by a negative compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.5% over the March 2020 – March 2025 period.