Singapore’s industrial output unexpectedly rose at the slowest pace in nine months, heralding slower economic growth after a record expansion in the first half of the year.
Manufacturing, which accounts for about a quarter of the economy, climbed 8.1 percent last month from a year earlier, after a 9.9 percent gain in July, the Singapore Economic Development Board said in a statement yesterday. The median estimate of 10 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for an 11.7 percent gain.
Industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 6.3 percent last month from July, when it rose 1.5 percent from the previous month,the report showed.
Electronics production rose 32.8 percent from a year earlier after climbing 25.2 percent in July and 52.4 percent in June. Pharmaceutical output dropped 30.8 percent.
Overseas demand for goods by Asian manufacturers such as Singapore-based Hi-P International Ltd, whose customers include BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd, may cool as the global recovery slows.
Singapore’s economy, which expanded an unprecedented 17.9 percent in the first half of this year, will moderate in the coming months, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said last month.
“Singapore’s reliance on global demand remains,” said Vishnu Varathan, an economist at Capital Economics (Asia) Pte in Singapore. “A bumpy recovery in the global economy could dampen strong upswings in manufacturing activity from here.”
The country’s non-oil domestic exports climbed 31.2 percent from a year earlier last month, after a revised 18.3 percent gain in July, a report showed on Friday last week. Still, manufacturing contracted for the first time in 16 months last month, according to the Singapore Institute of Purchasing & Materials Management’s purchasing managers’ index.
Growth in Europe’s services and manufacturing industries weakened more than economists forecast this month, adding to evidence the recovery in the region is losing steam, a report showed on Thursday.
A composite index based on a survey of euro-area purchasing managers in both industries declined to 53.8 from 56.2 lat month, London-based Markit Economics said.
Economic expansion in the US and China has also slowed.
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