SINGAPORE, Aug 12 — Singapore lowered its forecast for export growth this year as a slowing expansion in China and an uneven US recovery crimp demand for the nation’s goods.

Non-oil domestic exports may be unchanged or rise 1 per cent this year, compared with a previous forecast of 2 per cent to 4 per cent, the trade promotion agency said in a statement today. Gross domestic product rose an annualised 15.5 per cent in the three months through June from the previous quarter, when it grew a revised 1.7 per cent, the Trade Ministry said separately.

Southeast Asian nations from Malaysia to Indonesia have seen exports slump as growth slows in China, and the US, Europe and Japan struggle to sustain economic recoveries. Singapore’s exports in June extended the longest run of declines since the global financial crisis as electronics dropped for an 11th month.

The “export outlook hasn’t been faring well over the last couple of months because we are undergoing a down cycle in pharmaceuticals and electronics,” Irvin Seah, a Singapore-based economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd., said before the report. The government may have been “a bit biased to the upside with the export forecast” previously, he said.

The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 11 economists was for a 14.2 per cent increase in quarter-on-quarter GDP, and a previous forecast by the government was for a 15.2 per cent expansion.

Annual GDP

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong raised his forecast for economic growth to a range of 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent this year, up from 1 per cent to 3 per cent. The economy expanded 2 per cent in the first half, Lee said in a televised message on August 8, on the eve of the country’s National Day.

“We have made steady progress this past year,” said Lee, 61. “Our economy is holding steady amidst global uncertainties. We are attracting more quality investments. Unemployment remains low.”

The Singapore dollar has fallen about 3 per cent this year. It was little changed before the release. The Monetary Authority of Singapore stuck to a policy of allowing gradual gains in its currency in April as inflationary pressures curbed scope for monetary stimulus.

GDP expanded 3.8 per cent last quarter from a year earlier, better than the 3.7 per cent estimated previously, today’s report showed.

Manufacturing gained 0.2 per cent from a year earlier in the three months ended June 30, compared with a July estimate of a 1.1 per cent expansion. The services industry grew 5.5 per cent last quarter from a year earlier, while construction expanded 5.1 per cent.

Non-oil domestic exports have “yet to show signs of rebound though the year-on-year decline in NODX has moderated in the second quarter of 2013,” the government said today. “Despite this, Singapore’s trade and NODX are still expected to pick up modestly in tandem with the projected gradual recovery in global demand.” — Bloomberg