Singapore’s economy expands the most in 1 1/2 years in Q1

Singapore’s economy expanded at the sharpest annual rate since Q3 of 2022 in the first quarter of 2024, a final estimate showed on Thursday.

The nation’s GDP grew 2.7% year-on-year in Q1, while matching preliminary data and outpacing market consensus of a 2.5% growth.

In Q1 of 2024, services sector growth picked up sizably (3.9% YoY after a 2% YoY growth in Q4), underpinned by further expansion in finance & insurance, transport & storage as well as wholesale trade.

In the meantime, construction sector growth slowed (4.1% YoY from 5.2% YoY in Q4), as public sector construction rose and private sector construction shrank.

And, Singapore’s manufacturing sector contracted (-1.8% YoY following a 1.4% YoY growth in Q4), mostly reflecting contraction in biomedical manufacturing, electronics and general manufacturing.

In quarter-over-quarter terms, the economy grew just 0.1% in Q1 of 2024, or at the smallest rate in a year, data by Statistics Singapore showed. That followed a 1.2% expansion in the final quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, Singapore government’s full-year 2024 GDP forecast has been maintained at 1% to 3%.

The Singaporean Dollar was 0.10% weaker on the day against its US counterpart, with the USD/SGD currency pair last trading at 1.3507.