Singapore cuts projections for trade growth

The official projections for Singapore's trade growth have been downgraded despite an expected pickup in external demand in the second half of the year, trade promotion agency International Enterprise Singapore said on Monday. It narrowed and cut the projection for Singapore's non-oil domestic exports, a key gauge of the country's exports performance, to zero to 1 percent from the previous official forecast of 2 percent to 4 percent. The forecast for growth in total trade was also downgraded to 2 percent to 3 percent. Singapore's non-oil domestic exports declined by 4.9 percent year on year in the second quarter, following the contraction of 12.5 percent seen in the previous quarter. The contraction in both shipments of electronic and non- electronic exports narrowed. Electronic domestic exports fell by 11.5 percent, compared with 17.2 percent in the first quarter, while non-electronic exports declined by 1.4 percent, compared with 10.1 percent in the first quarter. International Enterprise Singapore said that the country's trade and non-oil domestic exports are both expected to pick up modestly in tandem with the projected gradual recovery in global demand. The projections for both non-oil domestic exports and total trade were cut due to the poor performance in the first half, it said. In a separate announcement on Monday, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry upgraded its growth forecast for the economy this year to 2.5 percent-3.5 percent from 1 percent-3 percent, citing better-than-expected results in the second quarter and an expected improvement in external demand.