Singapore: Manufacturing slows in August, again - ING

Sandeep Kanihama FXStreet Contributor

Prakash Sakpal, Economist at ING, Singapore’s August manufacturing surprised on the downside with 3.3% year on year growth, undershooting the consensus estimate of 4.7%.

Key Quotes

“The third consecutive month of a slowdown in manufacturing output in August suggests Singapore’s GDP growth is poised for another quarterly slowdown in 3Q18. We think it 'll drag growth under 3% in 3Q18 from 3.9% in 2Q18.”

“The slowdown from a 6.7% YoY growth in July, which was revised up from 6.0% initial estimate, was pretty much consistent across most sectors. In a continued clawback of an outsized 4.5% month-on-month (seasonally adjusted) bounce in June, August's 2% MoM decline followed the 1.2% decline in July. With over 40% combined weight in the total, electronics and pharma were the main drags on the headline growth in August.”

“On a monthly basis, September is a weak growth month. Assuming a monthly manufacturing change, in September, the average rate over the last three years, quarterly growth will have more than halved to 4.7% YoY in 3Q18 from 10.6% in 2Q. This will certainly be associated with a slowdown in GDP growth.”

Author

Sandeep Kanihama

FXStreet Contributor

Sandeep Kanihama is an FX Editor and Analyst with FXstreet having principally focus area on Asia and European markets with commodity, currency and equities coverage. He is stationed in the Indian capital city of Delhi.

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