Singapore's 2012 GDP disappoints with 1.3% growth

Manufacturing growth sharply slumps to just 0.1%.

According to a release by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, for the whole of 2012, Singapore’s GDP growth slowed to 1.3 per cent, from 5.2 per cent in 2011, mainly due to weakness in the externally-oriented sectors.

Weighed down by the contracti on in the electronics cluster, manufacturing sector growth slowed sharply from 7.8 per cent in the previous year to 0.1 per cent.

By contrast, the construction sector growth accelerated from 6.3 per cent to 8.2 per cent in 2012 , due to the expansion in both public and private building activities.

The services producing industries grew by 1.2 per cent in 2012, anchored by a pick-up in growth in business services sector to 3.9 per cent , on the back of
strong performance in the real estate segment.

On the other hand, the wholesale & retail trade sector declined by 0.7 per cent, while growth in the finance & insurance sector and other services industries moderated to 0.5 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.