Buoyed by signs of recovery in most of the sectors, Singapore's economic growth this year is expected to come in at 3.3 per cent, according to private-sector economists polled in a quarterly survey by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) released today.
This forecast by MAS is higher than the 2.5 per cent median forecast in the previous survey.
Singapore government has predicted that full-year growth for the economy will be in the range of 3 to 3.5 per cent, an upward revision from an earlier range of 2 to 3 per cent. The government has come with the survey during November.
There has been lot of optimism in the Singapore’s economy as it expanded by 5.2 per cent in the third quarter of the year compared with the same period last year, marking the strongest quarterly expansion since 2013.
The manufacturing sector is expected to grow by 10.6 per cent, up from their 6.6 per cent growth prediction in September’s survey. The finance and insurance industry is expected to post growth of 3.7 per cent, an increase from the 2.9 per cent growth predicted previously.
However, the construction sector is showing signs of gloom as the economists predict that the sector will contract by 7.6 per cent, a further contraction from the 4.2 per cent decline predicted in the last survey.
The accommodation and food services sector are forecast to contract by 1.5 per cent, unchanged from September's prediction, while the wholesale and retail trade sector is expected to do better than previously forecast with growth of 1.7 per cent, an increase from the 1.3 per cent predicted in the last survey.
The MAS Survey of Professional Forecasters is conducted every quarter after the release of detailed economic data for the preceding three months.
