Singapore has maintained its growth forecast for 2024 at a range of 1 to 3 percent, as data on Thursday (Feb 15) showed the economy growing slightly slower than expected last year.
The economy expanded by 1.1 per cent in 2023, a whisker below earlier government estimates of 1.2 per cent, said the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in a quarterly report.
Growth was mainly driven by the services industry, such as the information and communications and transportation and storage sectors, MTI’s Permanent Secretary for development Beh Swan Gin told reporters at a press conference.
For the final quarter of last year, gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.2 per cent year-on-year, lower than the projection of 2.8 per cent but accelerating from the 1 per cent growth in the third quarter.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, the economy expanded by 1.2 per cent, also missing an earlier forecast of 1.7 per cent, but picking up speed from the 1 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
Laying out why it chose to maintain its growth forecast for 2024, MTI noted that Singapore’s external demand outlook has “remained largely unchanged” since its last assessment in November.
Growth in the advanced economies, such as the United States and the Eurozone, is set to slow in the first half of the year, mainly due to continued tight financial conditions, before recovering gradually in line with an expected easing of monetary policy.
he central bank kept its exchange rate-based monetary policy unchanged last month, standing pat for the third consecutive meeting as inflation lingers.
MAS expects core inflation, which is a key barometer for the central bank, to slow to an average of 2.5 to 3.5 per cent for 2024, down from 4.2 per cent in 2023.
“There are continuing uncertainties on both the growth and inflation fronts … so the MAS will be monitoring quite closely these trends and implications on both inflation and growth. We will review that comprehensively in the next scheduled review in April,” said MAS deputy managing director Edward Robinson.
CNA
