Singapore's economy expected to grow 15% in 2010
2010-11-18 17:49:42
The Singapore government said on Thursday that it expects the Singapore economy to grow by around 15.0 percent in 2010 and by 4.0 to 6.0 percent in 2011.
Preliminary estimates showed that the Singapore economy grew at a slower pace by 10.6 percent on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter of 2010, moderating from the record expansion of 19.5 percent in the second quarter, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said in a statement.
Growth momentum, as measured on a seasonally adjusted annualized quarter-on-quarter basis, fell sharply by 18.7 percent, a reversal from the growth of 27.3 percent in the preceding quarter.
For the rest of 2010, the MTI said growth will be supported by a number of industry specific factors. Specifically, the biomedical manufacturing cluster is expected to recover with higher production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and restocking activities of several companies. The financial services sector should also continue to recover, supported by resilience in the core banking and insurance industries.
In 2011, external macroeconomic conditions are expected to remain supportive of growth. The advanced economies will grow at a steady but relatively slow pace. The cyclical rebound in business investment should continue to pick up, supported by accommodative monetary policies. While household demand in the advanced economies will continue to grow, the strength of recovery could be restrained by high unemployment and weak household balance sheets.
In Asia, domestic demand is expected to remain robust, boosted by wage growth, supportive government policies and healthy fundamentals. This will drive intra-regional trade in goods and services (such as travel and finance). In addition to the expected boost in external demand, economic activities in Singapore will also increase on account of new capacity additions in the manufacturing sector and progressive offerings of recreational facilities in the tourism-related services industries.
Nevertheless, the global economy remains vulnerable to several downside risks, notably a reversion to recessionary conditions in the U.S., and concerns of sovereign debt sustainability in the peripheral EU economies.