Singapore's economy grows 1.8 pct in 2016

SINGAPORE, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's economy grew by 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016 year-on-year, with the growth of the whole of 2016 recorded also at 1.8 percent, according to advance estimates by Ministry of Trade and Industry released on Tuesday.

The 1.8 percent increase in the fourth quarter is faster than the 1.2 percent growth in the previous quarter, said the ministry in a press release.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualized basis, Singapore's GDP expanded by 9.1 percent, a reversal from the 1.9 percent contraction in the preceding quarter.

Manufacturing sector expanded by 6.5 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, an improvement from the 1.7 percent growth in the previous quarter. The sector was primarily driven by the electronics and biomedical manufacturing clusters, even as the transport engineering and general manufacturing clusters continued to contract, said the ministry.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, manufacturing sector grew by 14.6 percent, a sharp turnaround from the 8.1 percent contraction in the preceding quarter.

The ministry said construction sector contracted by 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter year-on-year, extending the 0.2 percent decline in the previous quarter. The slowdown was primarily due to a decline in private sector construction activities.

Construction sector shrank at an annualized rate of 4.7 percent quarter-on-quarter, moderating from the 14.8 percent contraction in the preceding quarter.

Growth in services producing industries came in at 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter year-on-year, slightly faster than the 0.3 percent growth in the preceding quarter, according to the press release.

The ministry said growth was supported by "other services industries" including transportation and storage and business services sectors. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualized basis, the services producing industries grew by 9.4 percent, a reversal from the 0.4 percent contraction in the third quarter.

The ministry forecasted full-year growth for 2017 to be between 1 to 3 percent.