Singapore manufacturing output surges 21.3% in December

Singapore’s industrial production in December 2016 jumped up more than expected, posting its best monthly performance in at least two years, data from the Economic Development Board (EDB) showed on Thursday (26 Jan).
Manufacturing output rose 21.3 percent from a year earlier, the EDB data showed.
This jump was above market expectations. A Reuters poll put the median forecast at 9.5 per cent year-on-year.
Excluding the volatile biomedical sector, output still increased by 16.1 percent.

The December increase was led by the electronics sector which surged 49.4 percent from a year ago.
Transport engineering was the only cluster registering a shrinkage. Output fell by 10.5 per cent.

These results give hope to help revise gross domestic product figures upwards.
The full EDB report could be found on its latest media release. Fuller 2016 fourth quarter and full-year estimates will be released next month.