Buoyed by the spectacular showing of the manufacturing sector, Singapore’s economy grew by 4.3 per cent in the first quarter of the year, according to the advanced estimates released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) today.
“The Singapore economy grew by 4.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter of 2018, higher than the 3.6 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of last year,” said MTI.
On a quarter-by-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy expanded by 1.4 per cent, a moderation from the 2.1 per cent growth in the fourth quarter.
The manufacturing sector of Singapore showed a remarkable performance as it grew by 10.1 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter, faster than the 4.8 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
“On a quarter on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, growth in the manufacturing sector came in at 23.3 per cent, a sharp turnaround from the 14.8 per cent contraction in the preceding quarter,” said MTI.
All the clusters within the manufacturing sector expanded, with the electronics and precision engineering clusters contributing the most to the sector’s growth.
As far as the performance of services sector is concerned, it expanded by 3.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter, slightly faster than the 3.5 per cent growth in the fourth quarter.
Growth in the services sector was primarily supported by the finance and insurance as well as wholesale and retail trade sectors.
However, weak performance was shown by construction sector. It contracted by 4.4 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter, extending the 5.0 per cent decline in the previous quarter.
The weak performance of the sector was due to a fall in both private sector and public sector construction activities.
“MTI will release the preliminary GDP estimates for the first quarter, including performance by sectors, sources of growth, inflation, employment and productivity, in its Economic Survey of Singapore in May 2018,” stated the release.