Singapore economy expands 5.9% in Q3

The Singapore economy grew by 5.9 percent in the third quarter, according to advance estimates released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Friday. On a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter annualized basis, the economy grew by 1.3 percent to avoid a technical recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of quarter-on-quarter contraction. It contracted by 6.3 percent on a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter annualized basis in the second quarter. The ministry said that the strength of the biomedical sector helped lift manufacturing growth to 13.2 percent year on year and thereby helped the overall economy. The other sectors were relatively weak, with construction growing by just 0.4 percent and services expanding by 3.6 percent, respectively. The ministry said it expected the full-year growth to be around 5 percent. "For the rest of the year, growth could be weighed down by the softening global economic conditions. In particular, the electronics cluster is expected to remain weak due to the easing of global electronics demand," it said.