KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore's industrial production output was in decline as a result of electronics output was down in February, a new report said. Manufacturing, however, rose 12.1 percent on the year after a revised 9.6 percent decline through January, the Economic Development Board said on Monday. According to a Bloomberg news agency survey, output fell seasonally by an adjusted 1.1 percent. The region's overall manufacturing sector has rebounded from the first two months of 2012, the report said, as holidays and other shutdowns saw production levels drop slightly. The Singapore dollar has declined 0.8 percent in March even as six months of the strongest U.S. job growth since 2006 bolstered the outlook for demand. “We continue to believe that industrial production will weaken strongly as external demand slows down,” Cynthia Kalasopatan, an economist at IdeaGlobal in Singapore, said before the report, in comments published by Bloomberg. “The expected global economic slowdown will likely affect exports and thus weaken industrial production overall.” Electronics production decreased 6 percent from a year earlier in February, while pharmaceutical output climbed 37.7 percent after gaining a revised 33.3 percent in January. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/MsouV Tags: Economy, Electronics, Manufacturing, Production, Singapore Section: Business, Latest News, Southeast Asia