Singapore economy expected to grow around 3 pct this year: ministry

The Singapore economy expanded by 2.8 percent year on year in the third quarter, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said on Tuesday.

The growth is higher than the growth of 2.3 percent recorded for the second quarter, and is higher than the advance estimate of 2.4 percent of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. It was in line with market expectations.

The ministry narrowed its 2014 growth forecast to around 3 percent from the earlier forecast of 2.5 to 3.5 percent.

The Singapore economy is expected to grow between 2 and 4 percent in 2015, it added.

The growth in the third quarter was supported by the finance and insurance, and business services sectors. Growth in the finance and insurance sector surged to 10.5 percent year-on-year, from 5.5 percent in the previous quarter, with growth supported primarily by the financial intermediation and insurance segments.

The business services sector expanded at a faster pace of 3.4 percent year-on-year.

Growth in the accommodation and food services sector improved slightly to 0.9 percent from 0.4 percent in the previous quarter. However, growth in the other services industries slowed to 1.6 percent from 2.2 percent in the second quarter, due to weak performance in the arts, entertainment and recreation segment.

The manufacturing sector expanded by 1.9 percent in the third quarter, a slight improvement from the 1.5 percent in the preceding quarter, with growth supported primarily by the biomedical manufacturing and chemicals clusters.

The construction sector grew by 1.7 percent on a year-on-year basis, a sharp slowdown from the 3.7 percent growth in the previous quarter, mainly due to weaker private sector construction activities.

The ministry said that the growth for the rest of this year is expected to ease slightly, in line with a projected slowdown in the global economy. Export-oriented sectors like manufacturing and transportation and storage are likely to slow, while domestically- oriented sectors like business services are likely to remain resilient.

The growth outlook for Singapore next year remains modest, as global growth in 2015 is expected to pick up modestly and the pace of recovery is expected to remain uneven across the economies, the ministry said.

The latest statistics released on Tuesday by International Enterprise Singapore showed that its non-oil domestic exports ( NODX) in the third quarter rose by 1.1 percent year on year, following the decline of 3.4 percent in the previous quarter. The expansion was due to higher shipments of non-electronic exports.

The total trade of Singapore declined by 3.5 percent year on year in the third quarter to 245.2 billion Singapore dollars (188. 6 billion U.S. dollars). The trade promotion agency revised the total trade growth forecast for 2014 to between 1.5 and 2 percent. The forecast for NODX has been revised to a contraction between 1. 5 percent and 1 percent.

The NODX for 2015 is expected to grow between 1 and 3 percent, while the total trade is expected to grow by up to 2 percent, the agency said.