SINGAPORE: Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) have declined 16.3 per cent
year-on-year in December, its sharpest drop in 14 months.
This is according to the latest
figures from International Enterprise (IE) Singapore.
December's NODX also decreased
2.6 percent compared to the previous month but economists said this is no cause
for alarm.
They attribute the drastic
decline to a 'high base effect' the previous year.
Electronics continues to drag
Singapore's export figures down, with PC parts and disk media products leading
the declines.
Year-on-year, electronic NODX
contracted 19.1 per cent in December 2012, while non-electronic NODX contracted
14.8 per cent.
Singapore's exports to its top 10
key markets dipped in December with the steepest declines seen in shipments to
the US (down 27.7 per cent), South Korea (down 26.8 per cent) and Malaysia
(down 19.9 per cent).
Singapore's exports also plunged
much lower than economists' estimates of about 7.5 per cent.
But analysts noted that on a
seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, the NODX has risen by 1.8 per cent,
signalling a silver lining for the Singapore economy.
Irvin Seah, economist at DBS,
said: "Judging from that, we may see marginal improvement in industrial
production numbers for December compared to November and if we factor that in
our GDP calculation, then it actually reinforces the belief that Singapore will
narrowly avert a technical recession in the fourth quarter."
The drastic drop of 16.3 per cent
can also be explained by a strong base figure the previous year boosted mainly
by the maritime sector.
Leon Perera, chief executive
officer of Spire Research, said: "Some of them also point to export
competitiveness issues, the strong Singapore dollar, the fact that the
electronics sector tends to be skewed towards product categories that are not
as 'high-growth' so Singapore doesn't benefit from the growth in smartphones
and tablets and categories of that nature."
Meanwhile, bullish production
figures arriving from China, South Korea and Taiwan are leading analysts to
believe Singapore is still likely to achieve the government's full-year growth
forecast of one to three per cent this year.
They added that Singapore's
tourism and construction sectors have also shown improvements.
- CNA/ac/fa
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Health care and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN 's area. We are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, if any request, please, contact directly Dr Christian SIODMAK, business strategist, owner and CEO of SBC at christian.siodmak@gmail.com. Many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment