Singapore growth momentum will begin picking up next quarter: BBVA

1Q13 uptick foreseen on "improving external demand".

The forecast from BBVA came even as Singapore's industrial production for October fell by -2.1% y/y (consensus: -0.7% y/y) after a -2.8% y/y decline in September, as demand for electronics declined by -6.0% y/y.

"The outturn shows that challenges remain for Asia’s growth momentum due to lingering uncertainties about the global environment, which is leaving the more open economies such as Singapore, Korea, and Hong Kong particularly vulnerable," said BBVA.

"That said, we think growth is bottoming out in Singapore and expect to see a slight rebound in growth momentum in the first quarter of 2013 on improving external demand (BBVA GDP forecast for 2013: 2.6% y/y)," it added.