SINGAPORE, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Enterprise Singapore, a government agency that champions enterprise development, said on Thursday the country's total merchandise trade rose 14.7 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of this year, to 274.8 billion Singapore dollars (about 200.23 billion U.S. dollars).
The growth was higher than that for the second quarter, which was 10.2 percent, thanks to growth in both oil trade and non-oil trade.
In the third quarter, Singapore's oil trade increased by 28.2 percent year-on-year amid higher oil prices, after a 23.1-percent growth in the previous quarter. The non-oil trade rose by 11.7 percent in the quarter, extending the previous quarter's 7.1-percent increase.
Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX) grew by 8 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, due to increased shipments of non-electronic products. The non-oil re-exports (NORX) rose by 11.9 percent, after a 5.7-percent expansion in the second quarter, due to the higher shipment of non-electronic re-exports which outweighed the decrease in electronics.
The agency said that Singapore's 2018 growth projections are 9.0-9.5 percent for total merchandise trade, and 5.5-6.0 percent for NODX. It forecasts that the 2019 growth projections are 0-2.0 percent for both total merchandise trade and NODX.
Enterprise Singapore also said Singapore's total services trade rose by 3 percent in the third quarter, comparing to a 2.9-percent growth in the previous quarter. Total services trade reached 120.2 billion Singapore dollars for the quarter, with services exports hiking by 3.3 percent and imports rising by 2.7 percent.
