SINGAPORE (CNA) – Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose by 18.4 per cent year-on-year in December 2021, marking the 13th straight month of growth.
The rise followed a decade record surge of 24.2 per cent in November.
Economists had expected a 13.8 per cent increase in December, according to the median of nine estimates reported by Reuters.
Both electronics and non-electronics exports grew in December last year, according to data released by Enterprise Singapore (ESG) yesterday.
On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX increased by 3.7 per cent in December, following the previous month’s one per cent growth.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, non-electronic NODX grew while electronics declined, with the level of NODX reaching USD17.1 billion in December, compared to November’s USD16.5 billion, ESG said.
Electronic exports recorded a 13.6 per cent increase in December, driven primarily by integrated circuits, personal computers and disk media products.
Shipments of non-electronic products grew by 19.9 per cent, led by pharmaceuticals, specialised machinery and petrochemicals.
ING Senior Economist Nicholas Mapa said, “The better-than-expected performance for NODX was tied to the 19.9 per cent growth of non-electronics products after pharmaceuticals grew by an outsized 72.3 per cent while petrochemical exports rose 28.4 per cent.
“The robust performance of NODX likely helped lift Singapore’s 4Q 2021 GDP.
