Singapore raises official forecast for economic growth

The Singapore government raised its growth forecast for the economy to between 3.5 percent and 4 percent on Thursday.

The previous forecast by the Ministry of Trade and Industry was between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent.

The revision came after better than expected export performance and strong growth statistics in the third quarter. Statistics released on Thursday showed that the city state had an economic growth of 5.8 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, higher than the 4.4 percent growth seen in the preceding quarter.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew at a slower pace of 1.3 percent in the third quarter, after expanding 17.4 percent in the previous quarter.

The ministry said that the growth is likely to be supported by externally-oriented sectors such as manufacturing, wholesale trade and transportation and storage.

It expects the economy to grow by 2-4 percent in 2014.

The manufacturing sector in the third quarter grew by 0.1 percent quarter-on-quarter, after surging 33.5 percent in the preceding quarter. The construction sector contracted 2.5 percent, a reversal from the 20.3 percent growth in the second quarter.