2019 growth forecast for Singapore non-oil exports cut to -2 to 0%; fell 6.4% in Q1

• May 21, 2019

SINGAPORE’S key non-oil domestic exports (NODX) extended their quarterly decline in the first three months of the year, posting a 6.4 per cent drop year on year, according to trade promotion agency Enterprise Singapore on Tuesday.

This was much sharper than the 1.1 per cent drop in NODX in the final quarter of 2018.

Both the electronic and non-electronic NODX registered declines of 17.2 and 2.6 per cent respectively.

The latest decline led Enterprise Singapore to revise down the projected NODX performance for the full year from 0 to 2 per cent growth to minus 2.0 to 0.0 per cent growth.

The forecast for total trade is maintained at 0 to 2.0 per cent growth for 2019 as it continued to expand in the first quarter, though this was down from 9.2 per cent growth in the previous quarter. Total services trade rose 0.7 per cent to S$122.3 billion in the first three months of the year.

Enterprise Singapore attributed the growth in total trade in the first quarter to growth in non-oil trade outweighing the fall in oil trade. Oil trade slipped 6.9 per cent in the first quarter while non-oil trade climbed 4.5 per cent.

The latest quarterly trade data came as the World Trade Organisation reported that weak world trade growth is expected to continue in the second quarter of 2019 and growth in global trade for the year is likely to ease from 3.0 per cent in 2018 to 2.6 per cent this year.

Source: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/2019-growth-forecast-for-singapore-non-oil-exports-cut-to-2-to-0-fell-64-in-q1