Singapore total demand growth dipped to just 2.4% in 2012

Very disappointing compared to 2011's 4.2%.

According to Ministry of Trade and Industry's Economic Survey of Singapore 2012, total demand rose by 2.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012, reversing the 0.2 per cent decline in the preceding quarter. 

Domestic demand lent support to the rise in total demand, with a contribution of 4.0 percentage points. Growth in domestic demand was primarily driven by higher inventories.

By contrast, external demand recorded a negative contribution of 1.5 percentage-points. For the whole of 2012, growth in total demand moderated to 2.4 per cent, compared to 4.2 per cent in 2011.

Domestic demand was the key contributor to total demand growth, accounting for 2.2 percentage-points, or over 90 per cent, of the increase