Singapore  - Singapore's external trade lagged in October, government data released Tuesday said, as key exports fell 6.1 per cent from a year ago, a slight improvement from the 7.3-per-cent decrease posted for the previous month.

Singapore's non-oil exports slipped a 18th straight month because of lower exports of electronics and non-electronic products, the International Enterprise Singapore said.

Non-oil exports fell 13 per cent in October month-on-month, a sharp contrast to the 2.9-per-cent increase in September, said the agency.

Since a record decline of 35 per cent in January, however, Singapore's major exports improved with smaller year-on-year drops, as the city-state emerged from its worst recession in history.

Total trade in October reached 64 billion Singapore dollars (46.2 billion US dollars), slumping 12 per cent compared to a year earlier after a 19-per-cent contraction in September, the agency said.

Compared with the previous month, total trade slipped 4 per cent in October after a 4.6-per-cent increase in September.

In October, the largest contributors to the year-on-year decline in Singapore's key exports were Europe, Indonesia and the United States with contractions of 22, 13 and 11 per cent, respectively.

Singapore's export-reliant economy climbed out of recession in the third quarter, as gross domestic product rose 0.8 per cent compared with a year earlier.

Accordingly, the government raised its growth forecast for 2009, expecting the economy now to shrink 2 to 2.5 per cent for the year, a smaller contraction than the previously estimated 4 to 6 per cent.