Singapore dodges technical recession but slow economy tipped for 2017

SINGAPORE - Singapore has comfortably dodged a technical recession in Q4 2016, but its economy is expected to remain in slow motion, according to ANZ Bank, which is tipping GDP growth in 2017 to ease to 1.4% from 1.8% in 2016. This is at the lower end of the Government’s 1-3% forecast range.

Based on advance estimates, Singapore’s economy has expanded 1.8% y/y in Q4 2016, faster than the upward revised 1.2% y/y (previous: 1.1% y/y) growth in the preceding quarter.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis, the economy expanded by 9.1%, reversing from a 1.9% contraction in the preceding quarter.
However, the acceleration in growth momentum was largely due to the strong performance in the manufacturing sector, primarily driven by the electronics and biomedical manufacturing clusters, even as the transport engineering and general manufacturing clusters continued to contract.
Services growth remained resilient in Q4, up 0.6% y/y, from 0.3% in the preceding quarter, supported by the “other services industries”, transportation & storage and business services sectors.
Construction continued to decline 2.8% y/y, following a 0.2% contraction in the preceding quarter owing to a decline in private sector construction activities. www.live.anz.com (ATI).