SINGAPORE- Singapore maintained its forecast for the economy to expand 3-5 percent this year as the city-state’s recovery from the pandemic slump continues, although officials flagged downside risks to global growth and rising inflationary pressures.
The global economic recovery faces risks from mounting price pressures due to supply chain disruptions and rising energy costs amid tensions involving Russia and Ukraine, even as the pandemic appears to abate.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.1 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said, slightly higher than the 5.9 percent growth in the government’s advance estimate.
Analysts had expected a 6.2 percent increase, according to a Reuters poll.
For the full year 2021, GDP grew 7.6 percent versus an initial 7.2 percent estimate and a 4.1 percent contraction in 2020. Last year’s growth was the highest in a decade.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, the economy expanded 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter.
Singapore’s economic recovery has been led by the trade-related and manufacturing sectors, but activity in industries exposed to tourism, aviation and consumers are expected to remain below pre-COVID levels even by the end of 2022. — Reuters
