Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has narrowed the country's GDP growth forecast for 2020, from –4 to –7 per cent, to –5 to –7 per cent.
In a press statement on August 11, MTI said Singapore's economy contracted by 13.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the second quarter, worsening from the 0.3 per cent contraction in the previous quarter.
The fall in GDP was attributed to the circuit breaker measures implemented from April 7 to June 1 to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Singapore, as well as weak external demand amidst a global economic downturn caused by the pandemic.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, the country's economy contracted by 13.1 per cent, sharper than the 0.8 per cent fall in the first quarter.
MTI added that many of Singapore’s key final demand markets saw worse-than-projected economic disruptions in the second quarter. They are also expected to experience a more gradual pace of recovery in the second half of 2020, due to the threat of localised outbreaks and the continued need for restriction measures to contain such outbreaks as they occur.
"Notwithstanding the narrowing of the forecast range, there continues to be significant uncertainty over how the COVID-19 situation will evolve in the coming quarters, and correspondingly, the trajectory of the economic recovery in both the global and domestic economies," MTI said.
