Export Affected by Spring Festival Holiday: Singapore's February Data May Decline, Rebound Expected in March

OCBC Bank Chief Economist Selena Ling stated that, due to the impact of the Chinese New Year holiday in February, Singapore's non-oil domestic exports may have declined that month, but a rebound is expected in March. In an email, she pointed out that the widespread application of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and high-performance computing chips globally continues to boost short-term demand for electronics, especially semiconductors. Non-electronic products such as pharmaceuticals and gold are also expected to remain supported, though pharmaceuticals are still susceptible to cyclical changes in global demand, and gold is more sensitive to market sentiment fluctuations. Ling added that overall regional demand remains resilient.