Based on advance estimates, the Singapore economy grew by 1.4% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2015, easing from the 2% growth in the previous quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualized basis, the economy expanded by 0.1%, a reversal from the 2.5% contraction in the preceding quarter, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in an official release on October 14.
Economists said the latest economic figures beat expectations and kept the republic away from a technical recession after its GDP shrank in the previous three months.
Most analysts had predicted that Singapore’s economy, considered a bellwether for Southeast Asia’s economic health, would become the first major Asian nation to slip into recession.
The manufacturing sector contracted by 6% year-on-year in the third quarter, extending the 4.9% decline in the previous quarter. The contraction was largely due to a fall in the output of the electronics, biomedical manufacturing, and transport engineering clusters. Quarter-on-quarter, the sector contracted at an annualized rate of 3.6%, following the 17.4% contraction in the preceding quarter.
The construction sector expanded by 1.6% on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter, moderating from the 2% growth recorded in the previous quarter. The slowdown was mainly due to weaker private sector construction activities. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualized basis, the sector contracted by 0.8%, a reversal from the 12.4% expansion in the preceding quarter.
Growth in the services-producing industries came in at 3% year-on-year in the third quarter, slower than the 3.6% growth in the previous quarter. The moderation in growth was largely due to a slower pace of expansion in the wholesale & retail trade and finance & insurance sectors. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the services-producing industries expanded at an annualized rate of 0.8%, an improvement from the 0.2% expansion in the preceding quarter.
Photo: chensiyuan
