Singapore’s economy fared better than expected in the third quarter, in signs that the city-state’s recovery is gaining more traction.
Gross domestic product in the three months through September grew 1% from the previous quarter, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in its advance estimate Friday. That compares with a 0.6% expansion in a Bloomberg survey and a gain of 0.1% in the April-June period.
Compared with a year ago, the economy expanded 0.7%, versus a 0.4% median gain expected by analysts polled by Bloomberg. The MTI figures were mostly computed from data in the first two months of the quarter.
While the numbers signal that the city-state’s recovery is gaining momentum, sustaining that performance depends on how well global demand for goods rebounds.
Singapore’s largest trade partner, China is contending with sluggish consumption growth and real estate slump, while US expansion is expected to slow in the remaining quarters of the year amid higher borrowing costs and a cooling labor market. The conflict in the Middle East is threatening to push up energy costs, with gas, electricity and water prices in the city-state set to rise in the coming months.
Other details from Friday’s release include:
- On a year-on-year basis, manufacturing contracted 5% in the third quarter, after a 7.7% decline in the prior quarter
- Construction grew 6% from a year ago, after a jump of 7.7% in the previous three months
- Services producing industries grew 1.9% year-on-year in the period under review compared with a 2.8% gain in the prior quarter
--With assistance from Kevin Varley, Ailing Tan and Tomoko Sato.
