Singapore lowers economic growth forecast

A view of the skyline of Singapore's central business district (Photo: Reuters)

Singapore (VNA) – Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on November 24 cut its economic growth forecast for this year to 1.0-1.5 percent from 1.0- 2.0 percent.

The cut was caused by a weak performance of the economy, although its GDP inched by 1.1 percent in the third quarter on a year-on-year basis, higher than previous estimate of 0.6 percent, said the MTI.

While on a seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy shrank 2.0 percent. The manufacturing sector contracted 9.1 percent, a reversal from the 2.1 percent in the preceding quarter, while the service industry sector dropped by 1.3 percent.

The ministry also predicted that the full-year growth for 2016 of Singapore would be lower than in 2015 as the global economy have remained sluggish. In the first quarters of this year, the country’s economy grew at a slower pace of 1.7 percent compared to 2.1 percent over the same period last year.

According to the MTI, Singapore will continue to deal with challenges in 2017. Growth in economies like the US, Japan and ASEAN countries are expected to improve but growth in Eurozone and China moderates, causing challenges to Singapore next year.

In addition, investment reduction from US and Chinese firms and insourcing trends might affect Singapore’s exports.

The ministry also projected that sectors such as electricity, telecommunications and industry-service might improve, while wholesale, financing and insurance sectors will continue to face difficulties from the outside.-VNA