Singapore economy slows in Q3; GDP shrinks 19.8% q-o-q

14 October 2010 04:08  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS)--Singapore’s GDP growth has slowed to an annual rate of 10.3% in the third quarter, with economic activities showing a significant decline from the second quarter, advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) showed on Thursday.

The September-quarter GDP growth dramatically eased as manufacturing activities cooled down, registering just a 12.1% growth from a 46.1% expansion in the June quarter, based on MTI statistics.

The decline in growth momentum was an expected correction from the exceptional growth in the first half of the year, the ministry said. The Singapore economy logged in a 16.9% expansion in the second quarter and grew 19.6% expansion in the first quarter, based on official data.

“On a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter annualised basis, the economy contracted by 19.8%, a reversal from the growth of 27.3% in the previous quarter,” the MTI said.

The manufacturing sector, which includes the petrochemicals industry, showed a 57% quarter-on-quarter decline in the three months to September, reversing the 67% growth in the preceding quarter, it said.

“This decline is largely attributable to the biomedical manufacturing cluster. Some pharmaceutical companies switched to producing a different value-mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients; there were also some plant maintenance shutdowns during the quarter,” the ministry said.

But the Singapore economy would still grow at the targeted 13-15% range for the full year, the MTI said.

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By: Nurluqman Suratman

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