Unveiling the trade report card for last month, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore said yesterday that the Republic moved non-oil domestic exports (NODX) worth $11.2 billion, thanks to larger shipments of electronics and pharmaceuticals.

Impressive as the rise was, it was still slower than the 25.7 percent surge posted in February.

But analysts were quick to point out that the February figure was boosted by an increase in the number of working days in the month this year compared to last year. This was because the Chinese New Year holidays fell in January this year.

Last months' growth puts the cumulative rise for the first three months of the year to an encouraging 14.5 percent.

Analysts said that this underscored a strong underlying growth, which would boost economic growth this year.

"Overall, the numbers are quite good,'' said Joseph Tan, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

Electronics exports, which grew 8.7 percent last month making it the second straight month of growth, "continue to suggest that the export-led recovery remains fairly robust'', he added.