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Singapore economy growth to narrow down to 2-2.5 percent in 2015

Xinhua, August 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Singapore is GDP growth for 2015 has been narrowed to between 2 and 2.5 percent, after the sharp economic slowdown in the second quarter, the Ministry of Trade and Industry announced on Tuesday.

The economy grew by 1.8 percent on a year-on-year basis in the second quarter of 2015, slower than the 2.8 percent growth in the preceding quarter.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, the economy contracted by 4.0 percent, a reversal from the 4.1 percent growth in the preceding quarter.

The manufacturing sector, which contributes to about one-third of the total economy, contracted by 4.9 percent on year, extending the 2.4 percent decline in the previous quarter, primarily weighed down by declines in the output of the biomedical manufacturing and transport engineering clusters.

The wholesale and retail trade sector, transportion and storage sector as well as accommodation and food services sector have all registered a slowdown in growth.

In the meantime, the construction sector expanded at a faster pace of 2.5 percent on year, compared to the 1.1 percent in the previous quarter. The growth was supported by a pick-up in public sector construction works.

The finance and insurance sector posted the highest growth of 7. 1 percent year-on-year, extending the 7.8 percent growth in the previous quarter. Growth was largely underpinned by the fund management segment.

Looking ahead, the ministry said the global growth is expected to pick up gradually, although the pace of growth is likely to be uneven across economies. In particular, the advanced economies are expected to see a gradual pick-up in growth, while the growth outlook of regional economies has generally softened.

In tandem with the expected gradual pick-up in global economy, externally-oriented sectors such as the finance and insurance sector are likely to support growth in the Singapore economy, the ministry said.

Sector-specific factors could also continue to weigh on the growth of some externally-oriented sectors such as marine and offshore segment.

Taking into account the above factors, the ministry has narrowed Singapore's 2015 growth forecast to 2.0 to 2.5 percent, from 2.0 to 4.0 percent. Endi