Key exports in Singapore, which is already in recession, fell by a worse-than-forecast 15.3 percent last month, government data showed on yesterday.
Singapore is Southeast Asia’s wealthiest economy in terms of per capita GDP but is heavily dependent on trade.
This makes it sensitive to hiccups in developed economies, particularly key export markets such as the US and Europe.
The 15.3 percent year-on-year drop in non-oil domestic exports (NODX) compared with an annual decline of 8.75 percent that had been forecast in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of analysts.
Exports fell for the sixth straight month, hurt by a fall in shipments to the US, the EU and Malaysia, the trade promotion body International Enterprise (IE) Singapore said.
The drop for last month was greater than the 5.7 percent fall in September, and stemmed from lower exports of electronic and non-electronic goods, the trade agency said.
Electronics shipments fell 15 percent, led by consumer electronic goods, which fell 53.3 percent, it said.
Aside from electronics, NODX fell 15.5 percent, with pharmaceuticals down 38.9 percent.
On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX fell by 7.4 percent last month after a 0.9 percent fall in September.
Non-oil domestic exports to all of the top 10 markets except Indonesia contracted last month. Shipments to the EU were off 13.7 percent while those to the US fell 31.2 percent, IE Singapore said.
Total trade declined by 0.2 percent year-on-year to US$51 billion.
NODX reached its highest level last year in October, meaning last month’s numbers were compared against a very high base, DBS Group Research said in a report.
It said electronics was declining at a worsening rate while technology companies were relocating to lower-cost countries.
DBS said: “And given the current global economic conditions, the outlook for this sector in Singapore is exceptionally bleak going forward.”
Singapore last month became the first Asian economy to fall into recession when the Ministry of Trade and Industry released data showing real GDP declined by 6.3 percent in the third quarter after contracting 5.7 percent in the 2nd quarter.
The ministry lowered the full-year growth forecast to around 3 percent, citing a slowdown in the global economy and key domestic sectors. More detailed third-quarter data is to be released on Friday.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) warned on Sunday that the country could experience negative growth next year. He said the recession would probably last a year but beyond that there could be several years of slow growth.
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