Singapore’s Export Decline, Signs of Global Slowdown?

Singapore’s overseas sales unexpectedly fell for the first time in three months, signaling a weakening growth outlook for the export-dependent nation.

Non-oil domestic exports fell 0.2 percent in May from a year earlier as shipments of petrochemicals and electronics declined.

The exports decline follows steep falls in the value of shipments from Asian economies including Indonesia and India amid lower commodity prices and weak demand in developed nations. They also add to sluggish data at home, after consumer prices declined for a sixth straight month in April and employment contracted last quarter for the first time since the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2009.

Singapore’s employment contracted in the first quarter as manufacturing and construction jobs fell by 10,500 even as services employment increased by 4,300. Home sales dropped 45 percent in May as developers offered fewer projects, according to data released Monday.