17-4-2024 (SINGAPORE) In a worrying sign for the city-state’s trade-dependent economy, Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) plummeted by a staggering 20.7 per cent in March, reflecting the ongoing challenges faced by the global economy. The precipitous decline, which surpassed analysts’ forecasts of a 7.4 per cent contraction, follows a modest 0.2 per cent decrease in February and a robust 16.7 per cent year-on-year expansion in January.
The latest trade figures, released by Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) on Wednesday (Apr 17), paint a sobering picture of the nation’s export performance. Both electronics and non-electronics sectors experienced significant declines, underscoring the broad-based nature of the downturn.
In the electronics domain, exports contracted by 9.4 per cent year-on-year in March, a stark reversal from the 5.2 per cent increase witnessed just a month earlier. Telecommunications equipment, integrated circuits (ICs), and diodes and transistors were among the hardest hit, plunging by 38.8 per cent, 8 per cent, and 11 per cent respectively, dragging down the sector’s overall performance.
The non-electronics sector fared no better, with exports shrinking by a substantial 23.2 per cent year-on-year in March, extending the 1.7 per cent drop recorded in February. Pharmaceuticals, structures of ships and boats, and non-monetary gold were the main contributors to this decline, tumbling by 70.3 per cent, 99.8 per cent, and 49.1 per cent respectively.
While exports to China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan experienced modest gains, NODX to Singapore’s top markets as a whole declined in March, reflecting the global economic headwinds. The United States, the European Union, and Japan were among the largest contributors to the overall export contraction, with declines of 50.2 per cent, 45.4 per cent, and 36.5 per cent respectively.
The gloomy trade figures were further compounded by a 1.8 per cent year-on-year decline in total trade in March, following a 3.5 per cent increase in February. Both exports and imports fell, contracting by 3.4 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively, highlighting the broad-based nature of the slowdown.
Despite the challenging trade environment, Singapore’s economy demonstrated resilience in the first quarter of 2024, growing by 2.7 per cent year-on-year, outpacing the 2.2 per cent growth recorded in the final quarter of 2023. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the economy expanded by a modest 0.1 per cent, extending the 1.2 per cent expansion witnessed in the fourth quarter of 2023.
