Singapore's exports declined sharply in December as global economic crisis hit the economy's exporting sector, the International Enterprise Singapore said Friday.
Seasonally-adjusted non-oil domestic exports or NODX declined 13% month-on-month in December, following a 2.8% decline in the previous month. Year-on-year, NODX slumped 21% after falling 17% in the preceding month. That was the sharpest decilne in seven years.
The International Enterprise Singapore attributed the decline in NODX to contractions in both electronic and non-electronic domestic exports. Electronic NODX contracted 25% year-on-year, while non-electronic NODX decreased 17%.
On a 3-month moving average year-on-year basis, NODX contracted 18% in the month, following the 13% decline in November.
The report said NODX to the entire top ten NODX markets decreased in December, with the exception of Japan. The largest contributors to the NODX decline were the EU 27, the U.S. and Malaysia.
Singapore's economic recession deepened in the fourth quarter as global economic slowdown negatively impacted the nation's manufacturing and services sectors. According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, real GDP fell by a seasonally-adjusted 12.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008, on an annualized quarter-on-quarter basis. This compares with a decline of 5.4% in the third quarter of 2008. GDP fell for the third consecutive quarter with the city-state suffering its first recession since 2002 in the second quarter.
The government also lowered its outlook for 2009. With the weak performance of the economy in 2008, the ministry now expects the country to grow between minus 2% and 1% in 2009, lower than the minus 1% to 2% range it had forecast in November 2008.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said in his New Year message that the economy will probably contract in 2009. In addition, Monetary Authority of Singapore's survey of professional forecasters revealed in December that the economy is likely to contract 1% in 2009.
In December, oil domestic exports declined 39% following the preceding month's 4.7% decrease. The contraction of oil domestic exports was due to lower sales to Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia. In volume terms, oil domestic exports increased 2.2%, at a slower pace compared to 39% growth recorded in November.
Further, the official report showed that non-oil re-exports or NORX declined 13% year-on-year in December. The decline follows 8.6% contraction in November and it was mainly led by a decrease in electronic NORX.
Non-oil retained imports or NORI of intermediate goods contracted 16% year-on-year. This is after a 13% contraction in the previous month. On a seasonally-adjusted month-on-month basis, NORI contracted 8.6%.
Total trade declined 19% in December, quicker than 11% decrease in November with total exports falling 20% in the month, following the 12% contraction in November. On the other hand, total imports declined 17%, faster than a 9.3% decline in the preceding month.
In the year 2008, total trade grew 9.6%. Higher oil trade boosted by high oil prices in the first three quarters of the year contributed to the strong trade growth. Total exports increased 5.8%, while total imports rose 14%. NODX declined 7.9%, while NORX rose 2%.
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