Singapore economy grew 1.8% in Q1; Govt maintains 1-3% full-year growth

Singapore's economy has expanded by 1.8 per cent from a year ago in the first quarter, unchanged from the previous quarter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced in a statement on Wednesday (May 25) that on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy expanded by 0.2 per cent, slower than the 6.2 per cent growth in the preceding quarter.

Growth was lifted by the finance and insurance industries, wholesale trade and construction sectors, according to MTI. However, it was dragged down primarily by the transport engineering and precision engineering clusters.

The MTI said: "The global economic outlook has weakened since early 2016, with global growth for the year now expected to be broadly similar to that in 2015. In particular, the growth outlook for the advanced economies has deteriorated marginally."

The Ministry added that it has maintained Singapore's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast for 2016 at 1.0 to 3.0 per cent.

ssandrea@sph.com.sg