Singapore (VNA) - Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced on May 25 that it would maintain the country’s GDP growth forecast for 2021 at 4 to 6 percent, in view of the heightened uncertainties in the economic environment, characterised by both upside and downside risks, especially arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The MTI will review the forecast again in the next quarter, when there is more data, and greater clarity over the global and domestic economic situations.
The Singapore economy expanded by 1.3 percent on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter, a reversal from the 2.4 percent contraction in the previous quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, the economy grew by 3.1 percent, extending the 3.8 percent expansion in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the ministry’s press release.
The expansion was propped up by gains in the manufacturing, finance and insurance, and wholesale trade sectors.
The ministry highlighted a stronger-than-expected performance in the first quarter, saying that the domestic economy still sees a recovery this year amid the global economic rebound and further progress in the local vaccination programme./.
