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NODX down 8.9% in Aug, boosted by gold exports

Economists had expected a 10.6% fall; they are divided whether Singapore will dodge technical recession in Q3

Janice Heng

Published Tue, Sep 17, 2019 · 09:50 PM

Singapore

SINGAPORE'S non-oil domestic exports (NODX) fell 8.9 per cent year on year in August, performing better than economists' expectations of a 10.6 per cent fall and breaking a five-month streak of double-digit declines, according to Enterprise Singapore figures on Tuesday.

But with the improvement "inflated by a surge in gold exports to China", as Maybank Kim Eng economists Chua Hak Bin and Lee Ju Ye put it, economists are divided on whether Singapore will dodge a technical recession - two straight quarters of sequential decline - in the third quarter.