Singapore economy expands, beats estimate of a fall

Singapore’s economy unexpectedly expanded in the second quarter from the previous three months, helped by strong growth in the financial sector, while manufacturing activity was sluggish, data showed on Tuesday.

The city-state’s annualised and seasonally adjusted growth of 0.1 per cent in April-June from the previous quarter, topped the 0.1 per cent contraction forecast in a Reuters poll and the government’s earlier estimate of a 0.8 per cent decline.

The finance and insurance sector expanded at an annualised and seasonally adjusted 11.6 per cent in the second quarter from the previous period. That compared with a 4.6 per cent quarterly growth in January-March.

Singapore said the economy grew 2.4 per cent in the second quarter from a year ago, compared to market expectations for 2.4 per cent growth and the 2.1 per cent expansion cited in the government’s advance estimate. The government narrowed its forecast for 2014 full-year growth to 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent from the prior forecast of 2.0 per cent to 4.0 per cent.

Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) in 2014 are expected to fall 1.0-2.0 per cent, trade agency International Enterprise Singapore said.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday that the city-state’s economy will grow 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent this year, narrowing the government’s earlier forecasts.