Singapore's economy heavily depends on trade, and non-oil domestic exports were worth about 70 per cent of the country's gross domestic product last year. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
SINGAPORE'S exports declined for a sixth straight month in October, giving clear evidence that the global economic crisis is eating into consumer demand.
Non-oil domestic exports for the month fell 15.3 per cent to $13.4 billion from a year earlier, after contracting 5.7 per cent in September, said trade promotion agency IE Singapore in a statement on Monday.
Economists had expected monthly exports to edge up in October as a rebound in drug sales offset persistent weakness in electronic shipments - but the month's data showed electronics shipments fell by 15 per cent from a year ago, while drugs exports slipped 38.9 per cent in the same period.
Electronics account for about 40 per cent of Singapore's non-oil exports, while pharmaceuticals make up about 10 per cent.
Singapore's economy depends heavily on trade, and non-oil domestic exports were worth about three quarters of Singapore's $243 billion economy in 2007.
Although total imports grew 4.2 per cent in October, total exports slipped by the same amount. As a result, total trade fell by 0.2 per cent, after it had risen 18 per cent the previous month.
Economists now forecast Singapore will stay in recession in the fourth quarter.
'It looks like a poor start to the fourth quarter and a deteriorating outlook,' said OCBC economist Selena Ling.
Added CIMB-GK economist Song Seng Wun: 'It's probably going to be a fairly poor fourth quarter, and likely extending into the first quarter (of next year).
'It's not going to be any fun for Singapore, for the simple fact that external demand is weakening very, very rapidly.'
Nothing the 15.3 per cent fall in non-oil domestic exports is 'the largest since March 2002', HSBC economist Robert Prior-Wandesforde said: 'All in all, this is not a particularly encouraging release and one which will put additional pressure on the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to make an intra-meeting adjustment to its currency band.'
Singapore's economy shrank a seasonally adjusted 5.7 per cent in the second quarter and an official flash estimate showed a 6.3 per cent contraction in the third quarter.
It is scheduled to announce final third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data on Friday.
