July NODX slide improves but no rebound in sight

Singapore

EXPORT recovery is nowhere in sight for trade-dependent Singapore even as the country's latest key non-oil domestic exports (NODX) performed better than expected.

While last month's 11.2 per cent year-on-year fall in the NODX was not as bad as the median 15.4 per cent decline which private-sector economists had estimated - and less than the 16.3 and 17.4 per cent drop in May and June respectively - it's still a double-digit decrease, the fifth straight monthly double-digit decline, that indicated exports remained weak.

Even when the NODX upturned the month on month drop in June to post a seasonally adjusted 3.7 per cent rise in July…