SINGAPORE: Singapore’s industrial output fell the most since November 2019, as the electronics segment continued to be the main drag on growth.
Factory output declined 10.8% from a year earlier in May, worse than the 7.3% drop predicted in a Bloomberg survey, marking the eighth straight month of contraction.
Production of electronics, which accounts for the largest weight in the city-state’s export-driven manufacturing sector, plunged 23% on the year, with semiconductors seeing the cluster’s worst drop.
The chemicals industry saw output drop 9.5%, while biomedical grew 4.4%.
In May, the ministry of trade and industry stated that the island’s trade-reliant economy should avoid a recession this year despite a darkening global outlook, with officials expecting non-oil domestic exports to decline between 8%-10% this year.