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SINGAPORE - Singapore on Tuesday cut its 2007 trade growth forecasts as key exports grew at a slower 1.2 percent in June, dragged down by a continued slump in electronics exports.
Overall trade growth projections for 2007 were revised downwards to 5.0 to 7.0 percent from 8.0 to 10 percent due to sustained declines in electronics shipments and a weaker-than-expected trade performance so far this year, International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore) said.
The trade promotion agency said non-oil domestic exports (NODX) expanded an annual 1.2 percent to 14.3 billion Singapore dollars (9.47 billion US) in June, slower than the 3.7 percent rise recorded in May.
For the year to June, NODX grew marginally by 1.8 percent, said IE Singapore.
Last month's NODX increase was also below the 2.2 to 14.0 percent growth projected by analysts and on a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX rose 2.9 percent compared with 1.4 percent in May, IE Singapore said.
Total trade in June grew a mere 0.6 percent to 71.93 billion dollars last month and increased 2.8 percent to 405 billion dollars in the first-half of 2007, it said.
"Total trade growth in 1H (first-half of) 2007 was lower than expected due to the slower expansion of both oil trade and non-oil trade," said IE Singapore.
"Growth of non-oil trade was also weak primarily because of sluggish electronics trade, which has been severely hit by falling selling prices even though demand held up well," it added.
Heading into the second-half of 2007, IE Singapore said "non-oil trade is likely to be weighed down by lacklustre electronics trade as global electronics sales are expected to remain soft for the rest of 2007."
Dismal electronics exports, which fell for the fifth straight month in June, were the main drag.
"The weakness in electronics domestic exports can be attributed to the decrease in domestic exports of disk drives, telecommunications equipments, parts of PCs, and diodes and transistors," IE Singapore said.
Electronics shipments slumped 13 percent in June to 5.57 billion dollars.
Non-electronics exports, made up mainly of pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals, grew 13.1 percent to 8.72 billion dollars.
Singapore's economy is heavily reliant on trade and the monthly NODX figures are closely monitored to gauge the health of Southeast Asia's most advanced economy. - AFP/ir
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