Just days earlier on April 12, the Ministry of Trade and Industry released advance estimates for 1Q GDP that indicated a similar slowdown. For the first three months of the year, Singapore’s economy grew just 1.3% y-o-y, from 1.8%.
SINGAPORE (Apr 22): The latest economic data released this past week paints a softer outlook. Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) data for March released on April 17 indicates Singapore growth contracted 11.7% y-o-y, a sharp swing from the growth of 4.8% y-o-y in February. This is the biggest monthly fall since October 2016.
The softer performance was seen across both products and markets. UOB Global Economics and Markets Research attributes the decline to the slowing Chinese economy, uncertainty over the US-China trade negotiations and the disruption from the Lunar New Year holidays. Further downside risk to full-year NODX numbers is expected.
