Singapore’s economic growth slows to just 0.2% in Q1

Both manufacturing and services are to blame.

Singapore’s gross domestic product inched up by a measly 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis during the first three months of the year, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).

This is a far cry from the 6.2% growth recorded in the preceding quarter, but is better than earlier forecasts of zero growth. On a year-on-year basis, the economy grew by 1.8%, largely in-line with estimates and unchanged from the previous quarter.

The key manufacturing and services sectors continued to contract during the period. The manufacturing sector contracted by 1.0% year-on-year, following the 6.7% decline in the previous quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, however, the sector grew by 23.3%, reversing the 4.9% contraction in the fourth quarter of last year.

Meanwhile, growth in the construction sector picked up to 6.2% year-on-year, from 4.9% in the previous quarter, boosted by public sector construction works and private industrial building works.

Growth in the construction sector picked up to 6.2 per cent year-on-year, from 4.9 per cent in the previous quarter, supported by public sector construction works and private industrial building works.

The government has maintained its GDP growth forecast for 2016 at 1.0 to 3.0 per cent.