Singapore Feb exports seen falling from a year earlier: Poll

[SINGAPORE] Singapore's non-oil domestic exports likely declined in February, a Reuters poll showed, underscoring the headwinds the city-state's economy faces from sluggish global demand.

Non-oil domestic exports in February fell 2.6 per cent from a year earlier, according to the median forecast in the survey of 13 economists.

The year-on-year fall in exports is likely to moderate compared with January, helped by a comparison against weak export figures recorded in February 2015, analysts said.

In January, exports slid 9.9 per cent, as sales to major market China collapsed.

On a month-on-month and seasonally adjusted basis, exports were seen down 1.3 per cent, after rising 0.7 per cent in January, the poll found.

A Reuters poll published in early March showed that the risk of monetary easing by Singapore's central bank is seen as having risen recently as global headwinds buffet the city-state's trade-reliant economy.

Most analysts, however, expect the Monetary Authority of Singapore to keep policy unchanged at its next meeting in April, barring a sharper slowdown in China and steeper jobs losses.

REUTERS