Posted on 18 Dec 2008
Singapore exports for fourth quarter slipped 2.8%
Singapore’s exports slipped in November as shipments dropped to key markets from the United States to China, leading economists to expect a recession to continue in the fourth quarter (Q4) for the trade-dependent country.
November’s 2.8% fall after seasonal adjustments in non-oil domestic exports followed a revised 7.5% drop in October, amid a weakening global economy that pushed the country into its first recession in six years in Q3.
“It’s just further evidence that the contraction in global export demand is impacting Singapore. For Q4 we’ll probably have another quarter-on-quarter contraction,” said David Cohen of Action Economics.
The poor economic performance has led some economists to predict a monetary policy move before the central bank’s next official meeting in April, and following an aggressive US rate cut on Tuesday that is boosting Asian currencies.
The Singapore dollar, which the central bank uses as its main monetary policy tool by managing it against a secret basket of currencies, weakened slightly to 1.4567 versus the US dollar, from 1.4546 before the data. The central bank eased policy to zero appreciation for the currency in October.
Non-oil exports in November fell 17.5% from a year earlier to S$12.06bil (US$8.22bil), trade agency International Enterprise Singapore said in a statement yesterday.
”This was the steepest contraction since Feb 2002. Every aspect of non-oil exports contributed to the dismal performance,” said Alvin Liew, economist at Standard Chartered.
Electronics exports fell 17.3% from a year earlier while pharmaceuticals slumped 48.1%.
Exports to the United States and Europe slid 27% and 26% respectively from a year earlier, while similar double-digit declines were seen to the country’s key Asian export markets such as China and Malaysia.
