The Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has upgraded its 2021 GDP growth forecast range from 4-6% to 6-7%, despite the continued global rise of Covid-19 cases due to the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant. This revision was made in light of an easing of Covid-19 related restrictions in Singapore, a vaccination rate of over 80% by the end of August 2021, and a better-than-expected economic performance in the first half of 2020, where GDP grew by 7.7%.
All sectors experienced growth – some of these are highlighted below:
- The manufacturing sector expanded by 17.7% year-on-year, extending the 11.4% growth recorded in the previous quarter. Growth was supported by output expansions across all clusters, with the transport engineering and precision engineering clusters seeing the largest increases in output.
- The construction sector grew by 106.2% year-on-year, a sharp turnaround from the 23.2% contraction in the previous quarter, as both public and private sector construction works expanded.
The retail trade sector expanded by 50.7% year-on-year, accelerating from the 1.6% growth in the previous quarter. - The food & beverage services sector grew by 36.7% year-on-year, a turnaround from the 9.2% contraction in the previous quarter. Growth in the sector was supported by an increase in sales volumes at restaurants, cafes, food courts & other eating places and fast food outlets
- The information & communications sector expanded by 9.6% year-on-year, a step-up from the 6.8% growth in the previous quarter. Growth was bolstered by robust enterprise and consumer demand for digital solutions & services, and games & software publishing activities respectively.
(Source: MITI)
