SINGAPORE: Singapore's non-oil exports fell in May from a year earlier but rose from the previous month, suggesting the city-state's most important economic sector may be stabilizing.
Exports fell 12 percent in May from the same month in 2008 to 10.9 billion Singapore dollars ($7.5 billion) following a 19 percent drop in April, according to Trade and Industry Ministry figures released Wednesday.
But compared to April, exports rose a seasonally adjusted 5.6 percent.
Singapore's economy has contracted each of the last four quarters compared with the preceding quarter, including an annualized, seasonally adjusted 14.6 percent in the January-March period.
The government expects the economy to shrink as much as 9 percent this year.
Non-oil exports, which have fallen 13 straight months, were equal to about 60 percent of gross domestic product last year.
Electronic products - which account for 36 percent of non-oil exports - fell 21 percent, petrochemicals dropped 37 percent while pharmaceuticals jumped 40 percent, the ministry said.
Non-oil imports fell 20 percent in May from the same month a year earlier after dropping 27 percent in April, the ministry said.
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