Singapore economy grew by 1.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis in fourth quarter of 2016

Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has announced that based on advance estimates, the Singapore economy grew by 1.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter of 2016, faster than the 1.2 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
It stated that on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy expanded by 9.1 per cent, a reversal from the 1.9 per cent contraction in the preceding quarter. For the whole of 2016, the economy grew by 1.8 per cent, above MTI’s earlier announced GDP growth forecast of “1.0 to 1.5 per cent”.

The Ministry also noted that manufacturing sector expanded by 6.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter, an improvement from the 1.7 per cent growth in the previous quarter. Growth was primarily driven by the electronics and biomedical manufacturing clusters, even as the transport engineering and general manufacturing clusters continued to contract. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the sector grew by 14.6 per cent, a sharp turnaround from the 8.1 per cent contraction in the third quarter.
MTI stated that the construction sector contracted by 2.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter, extending the 0.2 per cent decline in the previous quarter. The contraction was largely due to the decline in private sector construction activities.
While, it said that on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the sector shrank by 4.7 per cent, moderating from the 14.8 per cent contraction in the preceding quarter.
Growth in the service industries came in at 0.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter, slightly faster than the 0.3 per cent growth in the previous quarter. Growth was supported by the “other services industries”, transportation & storage and business services sectors.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the Ministry noted that the services producing industries expanded at an annualised rate of 9.4 per cent, a reversal from the 0.4 per cent contraction in the third quarter.
MTI said that it will release the preliminary GDP estimates for the fourth quarter and the whole of 2016, including performance by sectors, sources of growth, inflation, employment and productivity, in its Economic Survey of Singapore in February 2017.