Singapore Dec exports seen up 5.8% y-o-y, but outlook remains weak: poll

[SINGAPORE] Singapore's non-oil domestic exports in December were expected to rise from a year earlier, but analysts remain cautious about the outlook, a Reuters poll found on Friday.

Non-oil domestic exports likely rose 5.8 per cent from a year earlier, according to the median forecast in the survey of 10 economists.

In November, Singapore's exports jumped 11.5 per cent, helped by a rise in shipments to the European Union and China.

"Global demand has picked up, which is helping electronics production," analysts at Moody's Analytics said in a note, adding that conditions were improving for Singapore's exporters.

But other analysts were more sceptical about sustainability of any improvement seen late 2016.

"Looking at the regional exports including China and the PMIs... yes, there was in fact a blip up that's making up some ground from before, but that doesn't speak of endurance," said Vishnu Varathan, a senior economist at Mizuho Bank.

US President-elect Donald Trump, who campaigned on a protectionist policy stance, is seen as a further risk to trade-dependent Singapore, analysts said.

"A lot of it hinges on Trump when he details his policies when he enters office on 20th January that could actually derail this green shoot," ANZ economist Weiwen Ng said.

On a month-on-month and seasonally adjusted basis, non-oil domestic exports were expected to be down 5.5 per cent, the poll found.

REUTERS