SINGAPORE — Singapore’s economy grew by 3.6% last year, which was not only lower than the estimated data but also slowed down significantly compared to the previous year.
According to data released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), the local economy grew by 2.1% year-on-year in the last quarter, which was a smaller growth rate than the previous quarter. The seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter growth was 0.1%.
Across sectors, the manufacturing sector shrank 2.6% year-on-year last quarter, reversing the previous quarter’s growth. This was due to declines in output in biomedicine, chemicals, electronics and general manufacturing.
The construction industry accelerated its expansion by 10%.
Services sector growth slowed to 4%.
Summarizing the performance of last year, the manufacturing, construction and service industries grew by 2.5%, 6.7% and 4.8% respectively.
The outlook for external demand in the country has improved slightly since November last year, but the global economy remains fraught with many uncertainties, including tightening financial conditions in many advanced economies, the war in Ukraine and geopolitics among major powers, MTI said. Tensions could further affect supply chains, global trade and more.
In the domestic market, despite the gradual recovery of the aviation and tourism industries, the growth of export-oriented sectors such as semiconductors, precision engineering, wholesale trade, water transportation, and finance and insurance will be affected by the slowdown of major external economies.
In view of this, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has maintained the country’s economic growth forecast for this year at between 0.5% and 2.5%.
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