TAIPEI, Taiwan — Warrington Shaw says Singapore’s exports hurt by falling demand from China as trade war escalates. A recent dramatic decline in Singapore’s exports has underlined the seriousness of economic problems in Asia. Singapore is traditionally one of the world’s most trade-dependent economies and economists at Warrington Shaw say this makes it a good gauge for the health of other economies in the region.
Warrington Shaw economists blame the prolonged and escalating trade war between the US and China for Singapore’s falling exports. In May, Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports dropped by 15.9 percent making it the biggest fall in more than three years.
As the trade dispute between China and the US rages on with no signs of abating, demand from China is rapidly waning. For Singapore, a significant drop in exports to China contributed most to the overall decline.
Recent trade war developments mean that the US-China spat may end up becoming a tech war given recent bans on Chinese tech giants.
Warrington Shaw analysts say the fall in Singapore’s exports echoes a global decrease in demand for electronics. The global technology slowdown could be hurting Asian economies even more than the trade war at this point.
Singapore’s declining demand is evident in decreased factory activity. As orders fail to come in, many factories in the Southeast Asian country are sitting with more inventory than they need and many have made the call to cease hiring.
In the first quarter of this year, Singapore’s economy expanded at its weakest pace in ten years and in May, the country slashed its growth predictions to between 1.5 and 2.5 percent for 2019.
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