Illustrative image (Photo:channelnewsasia.com)Hanoi (VNA) – Singapore’sannual economic growth slipped to the lowest rate in nearly a decade during thisyear’s first quarter as manufacturing slowed down in the wake of the prolonged US-Chinatrade war, prompting a downgrade to the city-state’s full-year growth forecast.
Accordingto Reuters, Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 1.2 percentyear-on-year during the three months ending on March 31, down slightly from the1.3 percent seen in the government’s advance estimate and the fourth quarter’srevised 1.3 percent pace.
Theresult, which was below the 1.5 percent growth forecast in a Reuters poll,marked the slowest annual expansion for any quarter since April-June 2009 whenGDP shrank by 1.7 percent against the previous year, government data showed.
Asbroad economic momentum cooled, policymakers downgraded their 2019 growthforecast from the previous 1.5-3.5 percent down to 1.5-2.5 percent.
Singapore,like many of its trade-reliant counterparts in the region, has been hit hard bythe US-China trade war which has disrupted global supply chains in a blow tobusiness investment and corporate profits.
GabrielLim, Singaporean Permanent Secretary for Trade and Industry, told a newsbriefing that slowing Chinese growth and the trade dispute between Washingtonand Beijing were expected to weigh on Singapore’s output, while a slackenedglobal demand for electronics was already hitting its manufacturing sector.
“Inparticular, the electronics and precision engineering clusters [...] areexpected to face strong headwinds on account of a sharper-than-expecteddownturn in the global electronics cycle, as well as uncertainties arising fromthe ongoing trade conflicts,” said Lim.
Onthe flip side, manufacturers bore the brunt of the weakening global demand asit became the worst performing sector in the city-state on a quarter-on-quarterbasis, down by 7.1 percent during this year’s first quarter.
The deteriorating global conditions forced Singapore to also downgradeits 2019 forecast for non-oil domestic exports by 2 percent down to 0 percentas shipments in the first quarter shrank by 6.4 percent year-on-year. –VNA
VNA
