Singapore has narrowly avoided a technical recession. The economy grew by 0.1 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter of 2019, according to flash estimates by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on 14 October 2019.
The pace of growth is the same as this year’s second quarter, which was the lowest in a decade.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis, the GDP expanded by 0.6 per cent, a turnaround from the 2.7 per cent drop in the second quarter.
The manufacturing sector saw a 3.5 per cent drop on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter. This extends the 3.3 per cent decline in the second quarter.
According to MTI, the drop was due to output declines in electronics, precision engineering and transport engineering. The declines offset the expansions in the chemical, biomedical manufacturing and general manufacturing clusters.
The construction sector grew by 2.7 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter, extending the 2.8 per cent growth in the second quarter.
The growth was supported by a pickup in both public and private sector construction activities.
The services producing industries expanded by 0.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter, following the 1.1 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
The growth was primarily supported by the finance and insurance sector, other services industries such as education, health and social services, and business services sector.
However, trade-related services such as wholesale trade were weighed down by weak external demand, as well as negative spillovers from the downturn in electronics and precision engineering.
Despite having narrowly escaped a technical recession, risks and uncertainties are still prevalent across all sectors, said NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay.
“We also see varying performance of companies within the same sector. I expect the services sector to continue to hold up the growth areas of the economy for the rest of the year. It is important and imperative for our fellow workers to continue to prepare themselves in terms of pre-emptive and proactive skilling and embrace the right mindset to overcome the challenges that manifest,” he added.
MTI will release the preliminary GDP estimates for the third quarter, including performances by sectors, sources of growth, inflation, employment and productivity in its Economic Survey of Singapore in November 2019.
