SINGAPORE: A surge in shipments of both electronic and non-electronic products helped boost Singapore’s exports growth by double digits in the first three months of the year. According to International Enterprise Singapore, the Republic’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose by 15.2 per cent in first quarter, extending the previous quarter’s 2.7 per cent growth.
“The global economic and trade outlook has improved since early 2017, notwithstanding uncertainties surrounding near-term economic and policy developments,” the agency said in a statement on Thursday (May 25). IE Singapore also raised its 2017 NODX growth projection to between 4 per cent and 6 per cent, up from the earlier forecast of 0 to 2 per cent. Thursday’s data showed exports of electronic products rising by 9 per cent in the first quarter, following last quarter’s 1 per cent growth, led mostly by growth from integrated circuits, personal computer parts and disk media products. Shipments of non-electronic products rose by 17.8 per cent for the first quarter, following the 3.5 per cent growth in the fourth quarter. The largest contributors to the rise were specialised machinery, petrochemicals and non-monetary gold. Singapore’s exports to all top ten top markets rose in the first quarter except for the European Union. China, Taiwan and South Korea were the biggest contributors to the spike in exports.