Singapore’s Export Slump Worsens as Trade-War Impact Spreads
The trade-reliant economy took a sharp downturn in the second quarter, prompting analysts to downgrade growth forecasts this year.
(Bloomberg) -- Singapore’s exports plummeted in June amid a worsening trade war, spelling more bad news for the city state’s economy.
Non-oil domestic exports contracted 17.3% from a year ago after falling a revised 16.3% in May, Enterprise Singapore said in a statement on Wednesday. That was worse than the median estimate of a 9.6% decline in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
The trade-reliant economy took a sharp downturn in the second quarter, prompting analysts to downgrade growth forecasts for this year and predict a possible recession. Exports have been weakening since last year as a technology boom waned, but the outlook worsened considerably in 2019 amid a U.S.-China trade war, which is weighing on China’s economy.
The data adds to the gloomy outlook in Asia. China’s exports fell 1.3% in June from a year ago, while shipments from South Korea, India and Indonesia also contracted.
Singapore’s electronics exports plunged 31.9% in June from a year ago after dropping 31.6% in May. The biggest contractions in overall shipments were to Hong Kong (-38.2%), Japan (-23.2%) and South Korea (-22.7%).
To contact the reporter on this story: Myungshin Cho in Seoul at mcho38@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Joyce Koh
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