SINGAPORE — The Singapore economy grew 0.1 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter, advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) showed on Monday (Oct 14).

This is below the 0.3 per cent growth expected by economists in a Reuters poll, and at the same pace with the 0.1 per cent growth in the previous quarter, which was the lowest in a decade.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 0.6 per cent, recovering from the previous quarter’s 2.7 per cent drop.

This means that Singapore has avoided a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of quarter-on-quarter economic contraction.

According to the data, the manufacturing sector contracted by 3.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter, extending the 3.3 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

"The contraction was due to output declines in the electronics, precision engineering and transport engineering clusters, which more than offset output expansions in the chemicals, biomedical manufacturing and general manufacturing clusters," said MTI.

Meanwhile, 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 expansion in the previous quarter.

MTI will release the preliminary GDP estimates for the third quarter, including performance by sectors, sources of growth, inflation, employment and productivity, in its Economic Survey of Singapore in November. CNA

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