Hanoi (VNA) – The Singapore economy expanded by 4.6 percent year onyear in the third quarter of this year, the highest growth in three years,according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).
The figure is higher than the 2.9 percent growth in the previous quarter, theMIT said in a report on October 13.
According to the MTI, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the country’s GDP grew 6.3percent in the third quarter from 2.4 percent in the second quarter.
The increase was attributable to the robust manufacturing sector expansion, by15.5 percent year on year in the third quarter, in comparison to the 8.2percent growth in the previous quarter. The strong surge was seen in theelectronics, biomedical manufacturing and precision engineering clusters.
The service industries grew by 2.6 percent year on year in the reviewed quarter,a little higher than the 2.5 percent growth in the previous quarter. The growthwas largely supported by the finance-insurance, wholesale-retail trade andtransportation-storage sectors.
Meanwhile, the construction sector continued to decline, down by 6.3 percentfrom a year ago in the third quarter. The sector was weighed down primarily bycontinued weakness in private sector construction activities.
In August, Singapore's full year growth was forecast to come in the 2–3 percentrange, rather than the previous forecast of 1-3 percent.-VNA