Singapore lifts 2021 trade growth forecasts again

Enterprise Singapore, a government agency, announced on Wednesday in the Review of Second Quarter 2021 Trade Performance that it adjusted the 2021 growth projection upwards to 13-14 percent for Singapore's total merchandise trade.

Meanwhile, it lifted the 2021 growth projection for Singapore's Non-oil Domestic Exports (NODX) to 7-8 percent.

In May, the government agency upgraded the 2021 growth projections for Singapore's total merchandise trade and NODX to 5-7 percent and 1-3 percent respectively.

The upwards adjustments were due to better-than-expected performance in the first half of 2021, and higher oil prices and robust global semiconductor demand to support total trade in 2021, though uncertainty remains, Enterprise Singapore said.

The city-state's total merchandise trade grew by 27.3 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2021, to 279.4 billion Singapore dollars (about 205.51 billion U.S. dollars), which grew by 4.9 percent year on year in the first quarter. In the first half of this year, the total merchandise trade grew by 15.3 percent year on year to 546.8 billion Singapore dollars.

Singapore's NODX grew by 10.1 percent to 47.3 billion Singapore dollars in the second quarter of this year, compared to the 9.7 percent growth in the previous quarter. In the first half, the NODX grew by 9.9 percent year on year to 94.3 billion Singapore dollars.

Enterprise Singapore also said that Singapore's total services trade grew by 9.3 percent year on year to 124.6 billion Singapore dollars in the second quarter of 2021, after the 9.8 percent contraction in the previous quarter. The services exports and imports grew by 10.3 percent and 8.2 percent respectively.