SINGAPORE (Reuters) – 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 percent 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 percent, as sales to major market China collapsed.
On a month-on-month and seasonally adjusted basis, exports were seen down 1.3 percent, after rising 0.7 percent 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.
(Reporting Masayuki Kitano; Editing by Sam Holmes)
