"Output of electronics remained down as the global electronics down-cycle persisted," the Economic Development Board (EDB) said.

Electronics output fell 29.8 percent, dragged down by a 45.7 percent contraction in semiconductor production and 37.6 percent slump in telecommunications products.

The slide, while smaller than the 21.4 percent decline posted in October, was the eighth consecutive monthly fall in production.

Manufacturing accounts for close to 25 percent of the island's gross domestic product and half of the sector's output comes from electronics.

The smaller decline in November manufacturing output is the latest indicator suggesting the island's battered economy may have seen the worst of the worst recession since statehood in 1965.

Last week, trade figures released by the government showed a 21.1 percent fall in the country's crucial non-oil domestic exports in November, a slight improvement from the 21.6 percent slump posted in October.

The Singapore economy is projected to shrink 3.0 percent this year after 9.9 percent growth last year.

A bright spot in November's manufacturing output was the biomedical sciences segment -- targetted by the government as new growth area -- which jumped 104.2 percent from last year.

A 149.7 percent surge in pharmaceutical output due to new capacity and higher production of more high value-added fine chemicals bolstered the biomedical sciences segment, said the EDB.

"Their output was sustained by export orders from USA and Europe," it said.

Chemicals sector output shrank 9.7 percent from a year earlier and engineering production fell 12.9 percent.

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