SINGAPORE, April 17 — Singapore’s exports unexpectedly jumped by the most in more than three years, making the nation a bright spot in a region where trade performance has faltered in recent months.

Non-oil domestic exports climbed 18.5 per cent in March from a year earlier, data released today showed. The increase exceeded all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey, where the median estimate was for a 1.1 per cent decline.

The trade pickup reinforces an economic expansion last quarter that surpassed analyst forecasts, allowing the central bank to refrain from adding monetary policy support this week.

While Singapore may be benefiting from an improvement in consumer spending in Europe and the US because of lower oil prices, it’s too soon to celebrate, economists at Mizuho Bank Ltd and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd say.

“Maybe we can start to be quite optimistic that not all of the decline in oil prices is lost on G3 consumers,” said Vishnu Varathan, a Singapore-based economist at Mizuho, referring to the US, Europe and Japan. “We need to watch this pick up to ensure two things, one is firstly that it endures. Secondly, that it’s broad-based enough that Asian exporters all generally pick up.”

The Singapore dollar was little changed at 1.3494 against the US currency as of 9:28 am local time, after gaining as much as 0.06 per cent in the 10 minutes following the release of the data.

The export gain was led by a rebound in electronics and pharmaceuticals shipments. Sales to Europe jumped 56 per cent from a year earlier, while those to the US climbed 19 per cent.

In contrast to Singapore, China reported an unexpected export drop of 14.6 per cent from a year earlier in March. Overseas shipments from Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia have all fallen so far this year.

“I wouldn’t extrapolate this positive result as a new trend,” said Daniel Wilson, a Singapore-based economist at ANZ. “The boost that you get from pharmaceuticals comes from time to time, and as quickly as it comes, as quickly it can go.” — Bloomberg