Singapore's growth forecast raised to between -2.5% and -2.0%
Singapore: The economic growth forecast for 2009 has been revised upwards to between -2.5% and -2.0%, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a news release Monday.
It also said the Singapore economy expanded by 0.8% year-on-year
in the third quarter of 2009 with growth driven by the biomedical and
electronics sector and improvements in the trade-related and tourism
sectors of the economy on the back of a gradual stabilisation in global
economic conditions.
This is the first such growth in five quarters.
Advance estimates by the MTI show that in the third quarter of
2009, Singapore’s GDP expanded by 14.9% on a seasonally-adjusted
quarter-on-quarter annualised basis, following a 22.0 per cent
expansion in the second quarter of the year.
In year-on-year terms, the economy grew by 0.8%, compared to a 3.2% contraction in the preceding quarter.
MTI noted that a clear but modest recovery is underway globally, at least for the next three or four quarters.
However it also cautioned that economic activity will probably remain
below pre-crisis levels because a sustained recovery in private
consumption and investment in the developed economies is needed to
support growth momentum into the second half of 2010.
It added that Singapore’s economic prospects in 2010 will be
closely tied to the conditions in the external environment with
trade-dependent sectors more likely to continue to benefit from a
gradual resumption in global and regional trade flows in 2010.
In its latest economic report card Singapore's manufacturing sector
showed an expansion by 35% on a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter
annualised basis, on the back of the previous quarter’s spike of 59%.
This increase was primarily due to demand in higher value active
pharmaceutical ingredients in the biomedical manufacturing cluster, as
well as greater electronics restocking activities as consumers bought
more electronic products.
However, the construction sector declined by 0.6% compared to an
expansion of 33% in the previous quarter as construction for industrial
building projects slowed down.
The services producing industries expanded by 9.5% on a
seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter annualised basis in the third
quarter of 2009, compared to 8.3% in the preceding quarter.
The trade-related and tourism sectors also improved while financial services sector posted modest growth.
- CNA/sf
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