Singapore upgrades 2020 growth forecast for total merchandise trade again

SINGAPORE, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Enterprise Singapore, a government agency, announced on Monday in the Review of Trade Performance for the third quarter of 2020 that it adjusted the 2020 growth projection for Singapore's total merchandise trade upwards to "-7.5 to -7 percent".

Meanwhile, it adjusted the 2020 growth projection for Singapore's Non-oil Domestic Exports (NODX) to "4 to 4.5 percent".

This August, Enterprise Singapore upgraded the 2020 growth projections for total merchandise trade and NODX to "-10 to -8 percent" and "3 to 5 percent" respectively.

Besides, the government agency said on Monday that the 2021 growth projections for Singapore's total merchandise trade and NODX are at "1 to 3 percent" and "0 to 2 percent" respectively.

It also said that in the third quarter of 2020, Singapore's total merchandise trade declined by 6.3 percent year on year to 240.4 billion Singapore dollars (about 179.07 billion U.S. dollars), compared to a 15.3 percent decline in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, Singapore's NODX grew by 6.5 percent year on year.

Enterprise Singapore added that Singapore's total services trade contracted by 18.5 percent in the third quarter, following the 22.4 percent decline in the previous quarter. Total services trade reached 111.9 billion Singapore dollars for the quarter, with both services exports and imports contracting by 17.8 percent and 19.2 percent respectively.