The Singapore economy is expected to grow 0.7 percent this year (Photo: AFP/VNA)
Singapore (VNA) - The Singapore economy is expected to grow0.7 percent this year, up from 0.6 percent inthe previous survey in September, according to the latest quarterly poll of professionalforecasters by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) released December 11.
The Singapore economy expanded by 0.5 percentin the third quarter comparedwith the same period last year, beating the estimate of 0.3 percent projectedby private economists in the September survey.
Economistspolled now say they expect growth in the fourth quarter to come in at 1 percentyear on year.
Theytip growth to rise to 1.5 percent next year, down slightly from 1.6 percentpreviously. However, the range of forecasts has tightened to 1.5 to 1.9 percent,from 1 to 1.9 percent. The Government's own forecast is for 0.5 to 2.5 percentgrowth in 2020.
Thiscomes on the back of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announcing lastmonth that the economy is expected to grow by 0.5 to 1 percent this year, whenit raised the lower end in the previous forecast range of 0 to 1 percentgrowth.
The latest quarterlysurvey indicated that further escalation oftrade tensions, in particular between China and the US, topped thelist of downside risks for 87.5 percent of the 22 respondents.
Otherdownside risks include a “sharper-than-expected” slowdown in China’s economicgrowth, cited by 43.8 percent of respondents in the December survey as comparedto the previous 50 percent./.
