Singapore's non-oil exports improve despite 12-per-cent drop

Singapore - The fall in Singapore's external trade levelled off in May as non-oil exports dropped by 12 per cent year-on-year, government data released Wednesday showed, thus raising hopes that the worst might be over for the city-state's economy. The decline in May represented the 13th month of contraction on a year-to-year basis, as Singapore battles its worst recession for more than three decades amid the global economic downturn. However, it was the smallest fall so far this year and a better result than in April when Singapore's non-oil exports slumped 19 per cent. On a month-on-month basis, non-oil exports increased by 5.6 per cent in May after a 1.4-per-cent contraction in April, said International Enterprise Singapore, the city-state's agency to promote external business. Total trade rose 3.4 per cent compared to the previous month to about 60 billion Singapore dollars (41 billion US dollars) in May. Compared to a year ago, however, total trade slumped 27 per cent in May following a year-on-year contraction of 29 per cent in April. The fall of non-oil exports in May was 'due to contractions in both electronic and non-electronic domestic exports,' the promotion agency said. Following a continued drop in external demand, Singapore's exports of electronic goods fell 22 per cent in May compared to a year ago, after a decline of 26 per cent in April. On a year-to-year basis exports of non-electronic goods - such as petrochemicals and specialized machinery - decreased by 5.6 per cent in May, a result much better than the 15-per-cent drop posted in April. All of Singapore's top 10 markets for non-oil exports except Taiwan and South Korea declined in May compared to a year earlier, said the agency. The largest contributors to the fall were the United States, Japan and Malaysia with drops of 35 per cent, 29 per cent and 23 per cent respectively. Singapore's export-reliant economy has been hit hard by the global financial downturn. The city-state's gross domestic product dropped 10.1 per cent in the first quarter 2009. The government expected the economy to shrink by 6 to 9 per cent for the whole year.