Singapore's gross domestic product climbed 2.4 percent on year in the second quarter of 2014, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in Tuesday's final reading.

That was in line with expectations and up from the advance estimate that suggested a gain of 2.1 percent. GDP gained a downwardly revised 4.8 percent on year in the previous three months (originally 4.9 percent).

Seasonally adjusted and on an annualized quarterly basis, GDP added 0.1 percent - beating expectations for a decline of 0.2 percent, and well above the estimate for a 0.8 percent contraction. GDP gained a downwardly revised 1.8 percent on quarter in Q1 (originally 2.3 percent).

Upon the release of the data, the MTI narrowed its forecast for 2014 to 2.5 to 3.5 percent. Previously, the range was 2 to 4 percent.

"The Singapore economy is expected to grow at a modest pace in 2014. In particular, externally-oriented sectors such as finance and insurance and wholesale trade are likely to support growth in the second half of the year, in tandem with the modest pick-up in the global economy," the MTI said in a statement accompanying the data.

The manufacturing sector gained 1.5 percent on year in the second quarter, a sharp slowdown from the 9.9 percent expansion in the preceding quarter. The deceleration in growth was largely due to a contraction in electronics output and slower growth in transport engineering output, the MTI said. On a quarterly basis, the sector contracted 15.2 percent, a reversal from the 12.3 percent growth in the previous quarter.

The construction sector grew 4.4 percent on year in Q2, compared to the 6.4 percent growth in the preceding quarter. The slowdown was driven mainly by a fall in private construction output, reflecting weaker private residential building works and a decline in private commercial and industrial building works. On a quarterly basis, the sector added 0.3 percent, a marginal improvement from the 0.5 percent contraction in Q1.

The wholesale and retail trade sector climbed 1.7 percent on year, slowing from 3.8 percent in Q1. This was largely due to weaker growth in the wholesale trade segment, which came on the back of a moderation in non-oil re-exports growth. On a quarterly basis, the sector gained 3.3 percent, reversing the 5.3 percent contraction in Q1.

The transportation and storage sector slowed to 2.0 percent on year from 5.5 percent in the first quarter, weighed down by slower growth in the water transport segment. On a quarterly basis, the sector contracted 1.6 percent after falling 3.3 percent decline in the previous quarter.

The finance and insurance sector expanded 5.5 percent on year, slowing from the 5.7 percent growth in Q1. Growth was supported by the core financial intermediation and insurance segments, the MTI said. On a quarterly basis, the growth of the sector accelerated to 11.6 percent from 4.6 percent in Q1.

"While global growth in the first quarter of the year turned out weaker than expected, recent incoming data suggest that global economic activities are recovering modestly," the MTI said. "Nonetheless, uncertainties in the global macroeconomic environment remain."

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