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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 showed that in the third quarter, Singapore's GDP expanded by 14.9% on a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter annualised basis, following a 22.0% 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 of 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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