17th Jan 2008
Singapore, Jan 17 Singapore said its key exports may grow faster this year, helped by a recovery in tech sales, though analysts viewed this as too upbeat given a disappointing 2007 and the risk of a US recession.
December's non-oil exports overall unexpectedly fell for the fourth straight month, dropping by 3.8% after seasonal adjustments from November, government data showed on Thursday.
For the whole of 2007 non-oil exports edged up a mere 2.3% as electronics shipments to its key export Markets Europe and the United States sagged, but the Singapore government expects exports to pick up and climb 4-6% this year. Trade promotion body International Enterprise Singapore said the forecast assumes the US Economy will grow 1.5-2% this year, Asia's robust expansion will continue and semiconductor prices will rise, boosting tech exports. But economists said the forecast may be too optimistic because demand for electronics was set to stay subdued in the first half of the year, and the economic outlook for the US-Singapore's largest non-oil export market - was worsening.
"It could be an overly bullish forecast. They like to paint a rosy picture of electronics but that has been consistently disappointing," said Kit Wei Zheng, an economist at Citigroup.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Singapore-sees--08-exports-picking-up-despite-weak--07/262533/
