July exports cooled as government sees slacking demand

Overseas demand may lessen as European governments implement austerity programs to cut deficits and households spending.

Singapore’s export growth rose at a less-than-expected pace in July as shipments of pharmaceuticals and electronics cooled amid a weakening global economy.

Non-oil domestic exports climbed 18.2 percent from a year earlier, after a revised 28.5 percent gain in June, the trade promotion agency said in a statement in Singapore today. The median forecast of nine economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for an increase of 20.1 percent.

A surge in production and exports in the first half of 2010 has put Singapore in the running to be the world’s fastest- growing economy this year. Overseas demand, which has lifted export-dependent Asian economies including Singapore and China, may falter as governments in Europe embark on austerity programs to cut deficits and households in some of the world’s largest economies hold back spending.

“While the export performance of the key electronics industry has been robust in recent months, the softer external demand is expected to weigh on sales going forward,” Irvin Seah, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore, said before the report.

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