Singapore's total trade in 2009 is projected to decline by between 17 and 19 percent, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore said on Wednesday.

According to a statement of IE Singapore, the forecast is lower than the previous expect of a decline by between 6.0 and 8.0 percent. The trade promotion agency expected the key non-oil domestic exports (NODX) to decline by between 9.0 and 11.0 percent, down from the previous forecast of between minus 1.0 and plus 1.0 percent.

IE Singapore also announced on Wednesday that it will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Singapore Business Federation and renew MOUs with four chambers and two associations, to work more closely in implementing initiatives to help Singapore-based companies expand overseas.

IE Singapore said the country's total trade rose by 9.6 percent to reach 928 billion Singapore dollars (about US$617 billion) in 2008, which was due to increase in oil trade.

However, NODX declined by 7.9 percent in 2008 compared to the 2.3 percent growth in 2007 due to lower electronic and non-electronic exports. NODX to all the top 10 markets, except for Indonesia and Hong Kong, contracted in 2008. The three markets which made the highest contributions to the NODX decline were the United States, Europe and Malaysia.

(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2009)