The advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) revealed that Singapore’s economy grew 2.6 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter, slowing down from the 4.1 per cent growth in the previous three months.
“On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy expanded by 4.7 per cent, faster than the 1.2 per cent growth in the preceding,” said MTI in a press release issued today.
The manufacturing sector grew by 4.5 per cent, slower than the 10.6 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
In the manufacturing sector, growth was supported mainly by output expansions in the electronics, biomedical and transport engineering clusters. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the manufacturing sector expanded at a faster pace of 7.6 per cent compared to the 2.9 per cent growth in the preceding quarter.
Weighed down by weakness in public sector construction, this sector contracted by 3.1 per cent in the time period, extending the 4.2 per cent decline in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, services growth held steady at 2.9 per cent from a year ago, with support largely coming from the finance and insurance, business services, as well as wholesale and retail trade sectors.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis, the services producing industries grew by 6.3 per cent, faster than the 0.7 per cent growth in the preceding quarter.
“MTI will release the preliminary GDP estimates for the third quarter, including performance by sectors, sources of growth, inflation, employment and productivity, in its Economic Survey of Singapore in November 2018,” said the release.