Singapore’s GDP growth in Q1 lower than expected

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Singapore (VNA) - The Singaporean economy grew only 0.1% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, slowing from 2.1% growth in the previous quarter, according to official estimates released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on April 14.

The figure is lower than the 0.6% expected by 19 economists in a Reuters poll.

The manufacturing sector contracted by 6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, worsening from the 2.6% contraction in the previous quarter.

The weak performance of the sector was due to output contractions across all the manufacturing clusters, except for the transport engineering cluster.

Meanwhile, the construction sector grew by 8.5% year-on-year in the first reviewed period, down from the 10% growth in the previous quarter.

According to the MTI, the advance GDP estimates are computed largely from data gathered in the first two months of the quarter.

They are intended as an early indication of GDP growth in the quarter and are subject to revision when more comprehensive data become available.

The government projected GDP growth of 0.5-2.5% for this year, lower than the 3.6% of last year./.

VNA