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Reuters

Singapore’s economy is expected to grow about 7 per cent in 2021, at the top of the official forecast range, and will expand at a slower pace next year as an uneven recovery continues across sectors, the government said on Wednesday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.1 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said, higher than the 6.5 per cent growth seen in the government’s advance estimate.
Analysts had expected a 6.5 per cent increase, according to a Reuters poll.
The economy is expected to grow 3 per cent to 5 per cent next year. The MTI had previously forecast a GDP growth range of 6 per cent to 7 per cent for 2021.
The new faces of hunger: inflation’s human cost, from Singapore to the Philippines
“The recovery of the various sectors of the economy is expected to remain uneven in 2022,” said Gabriel Lim, permanent secretary for trade and industry.
He expects outward-oriented sectors such as manufacturing and wholesale trade to remain strong, while activity in aviation and tourism-related sectors would remain below pre-Covid levels throughout 2022.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, the economy expanded 1.3 per cent in the third quarter.
Singapore, which has fully vaccinated about 85 per cent of its 5.45 million population, eased some Covid-19 safety measures this week and has opened quarantine-free travel lanes with several countries.


“Recovery has definitely started, the reopening borders and easing of mobility restrictions could help consumer facing sectors,” Maybank Kim Eng economist Lee Ju Ye. “But it’s still going to be a slow pace of normalisation.”
The MTI said protracted supply disruptions alongside a stronger pickup in demand, as well as rising energy commodity prices, could lead to more persistent inflation.
External inflationary pressures are likely to remain elevated, while wage growth is expected to strengthen as the domestic labour market continues to recover.
Around the world, policymakers have turned their attention to inflationary risks from supply constraints and a recovery in the global economy.
Singapore’s central bank had tightened its monetary policy in a surprise move at its last meeting in October.
Singapore to ease dine-in, social rules as Covid-19 cases fall
Data this week showed Singapore’s key price gauge rose by the fastest pace in nearly three years in October, mainly driven by higher services and food inflation.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will carefully watch inflation dynamics and stay vigilant on price developments when it decides its next policy move, expected in April, Edward Robinson, MAS deputy managing director, told a media briefing.
Singapore kept its forecast for headline inflation to come in at about 2 per cent this year, and average 1.5-2.5 per cent in 2022.
“If we continue to see inflation overshoot past the first quarter of next year, and if all these supply chain disruptions don’t ease, the question is then potentially how aggressive [the tightening] may be,” said Selena Ling, head of treasury research and strategy at OCBC, adding that she sees a “very high probability” for tightening in April.


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Singapore

Singapore economy to moderate next year amid uneven recovery

Container ships berth at the Pasir Panjang terminal in Singapore. Photo: Xinhua

From Singapore and Hong Kong to Malaysia, Philippines to India, how inflation and rising food costs are changing the face of hunger

In richer Asian economies, like Singapore and Hong Kong, those struggling from rising food prices don’t always fit traditional profiles. Photo: Reuters

A Sikh devotee lights diya, oil lamps, on the occasion of the 399th birth anniversary of the ninth Sikh Guru, Teg Bahadur, at the illuminated Golden Temple during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus in Amritsar on April 12, 2020. (Photo by NARINDER NANU / AFP)

Community kitchens prepare food and distributes it in the city of Marikina, part of Metro Manila. Photo: Courtesy of Patricia Non

KLR04D:ECONOMY-MALAYSIA-FOOD:KUALA LUMPUR,19JUN00 - A man prepares meat at a wet market in Kuala Lumpur June 19. Malaysia is seeking to trim prices of imported foods to curb inflation and the nation's growing import bill, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Monday. zh/Photo by Zainal Abd Halim REUTERS

People buying China chilled beef on the first day sales of chilled beef from mainland at Park'n Shop in Tseung Kwan O. 05JAN11

Kavita Verma. Photo: Amrit Dhillon

A vegetable stall at a wet market in eastern Singapore. Photo: Dewey Sim

As inflation haunts the US and Europe, rate hikes loom. Will Asia follow suit?

A tricycle driver gets his vehicle filled at a Caltex petrol station in Quezon City, Metro Manila. The Philippines is facing above-target inflation and calls to hike rates. Photo: Reuters

A man sits on a bench outside the Bank of England in London on October 25, 2012. Britain powered out of its longest double-dip recession since the 1950s after its economy returned to growth in the third quarter with a robust gain of 1.0 percent, official data showed. AFP PHOTO/BEN STANSALL

Bunches of harvested palm oil fruit are loaded onto a truck in the Penajam area of East Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia, on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019. For Jakarta, a city on the island of Java saddled with some of the worst superlatives in the region?-most polluted, most congested, fastest sinking?-the floods were an old story, the third time deluges have killed dozens since 2007. The problems have become so overwhelming that, even before the latest catastrophe, President Joko Widodo had decided to build a new capital 1,200 kilometers away on the island of Borneo. Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloombergerg

News

Asia

Southeast Asia


The city state’s economy is expected to grow about 7 per cent in 2021, the trade ministry said
Activity in aviation and tourism-related sectors to remain below pre-Covid levels throughout 2022



The city state’s economy is expected to grow about 7 per cent in 2021, the trade ministry said, but this could moderate to 3 to 5 per cent next year.


Coronavirus Singapore

Singapore economy to moderate next year amid uneven recovery

The city state’s economy is expected to grow about 7 per cent in 2021, the trade ministry said Activity in aviation and tourism-related sectors to remain below pre-Covid levels throughout 2022

The city state’s economy is expected to grow about 7 per cent in 2021, the trade ministry said

Activity in aviation and tourism-related sectors to remain below pre-Covid levels throughout 2022