Singapore’s economy in the first quarter of this year expanded 5.1 percent compared to a year ago, announced the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on April 14.

Also according to the MTI’s advance estimates of gross domestic product (GDP), on a year-on-year basis, the manufacturing sector grew by 8.0 percent, compared to the 7.0 percent expansion in the last quarter of 2013, mainly thanks to a sharp rebound in biomedical manufacturing output and stronger growth in chemicals output.

The construction sector grew by 6.5 percent year-on-year, higher than the 4.8 percent growth recorded in the previous quarter. This was largely due to stronger expansion in public sector construction activities, said the MTI.

Services industries grew by 4.7 percent year-on-year in Q1, lower than the 5.9 percent expansion in the previous quarter, largely due to slower expansion in the wholesale & retail trade and finance & insurance sectors.

Last year, the city-state recorded a GDP growth of 4.1 percent, much higher than the 1.9 percent in 2012.
Still, the MTI estimated that this year the country’s GDP would vary between 2.0 and 4.0 percent.-VNA