Singapore December factory output falls 3.9 percent

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's year-on-year manufacturing output in December fell for the first time in about 1-1/2 years due to a dip in pharmaceuticals production, data showed on Friday.

Manufacturing output in December fell 3.9 percent from a year earlier, data from the Singapore Economic Development Board showed, the biggest decline in 2 years. The median forecast in a Reuters survey predicted a 0.5 percent expansion.

On a month-on-month and seasonally adjusted basis, industrial production fell 2.0 percent in December. The median forecast was for a rise of 1.5 percent.

In November, Singapore's industrial production rose a revised 5.6 percent from the year earlier and declined a revised 2.1 percent on a month-on-month, seasonally adjusted basis.

 

(Reporting by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Sam Holmes)