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Source:
www.mti.gov.sg |
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PERFORMANCE OF THE SINGAPORE
ECONOMY IN 2005 AND OUTLOOK FOR 2006 |
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Overall Performance |
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Economic activity in Singapore continued to
pick up pace in 4Q05. Compared to the same quarter a year earlier, real
GDP rose by 8.7%, up from 7.6% in 3Q05. |
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The economy also showed strong momentum with 4Q05
annualised quarter-on-quarter growth reaching 13%. This brought full-year real
GDP growth in 2005 to 6.4%1. |
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The improvement over the advance estimate of
6.0% is mainly due to the better-than-expected growth in manufacturing
activity. |
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Sources of Growth |
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Total demand rose by 9.1% in 2005,
moderating from the 18% recovery momentum in 2004. |
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External demand, up by 11%, provided
much of the growth impetus. This reflected contributions mainly from
exports of IT and telecom products. |
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Among services exports, most important
were business services, financial services, transport and travel.
Growth of domestic demand, at 2.6%, reflected mainly higher public
consumption and private consumption on cars, medical care and
rentals. |
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Investment spending ¨C both public and
private ¨C fell during the year. This reflected mainly the weaker
building activity in the residential segment, as well as fewer
aircraft purchases. |
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Sectoral Performance |
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All major economic sectors showed
positive growth momentum in 4Q05. Apart from construction, all
sectors also registered stronger levels of activity compared to a
year ago both in 4Q05 and for 2005 as a whole. (See Annex). |
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THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR grew by 14% in
4Q05, following a gain of 13% in 3Q05. |
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The electronics cluster expanded by 19%
in 4Q05, driven by strong performances in semiconductors and
computer peripherals. Biomedical production rose by 7.6% while
chemicals production grew by 2.6%. |
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Transport engineering posted strong
gains of 35%, supported by marine and offshore engineering while
precision engineering rose by 12%. |
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The improvement in manufacturing output
brought annual growth to 9.3% in 2005 compared with 14% a year
earlier. |
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CONSTRUCTION SECTOR activity accelerated
in 4Q05, registering positive growth on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
Nevertheless, activity remained 0.8% below the level a year ago,
compared with a decline of 1.4% in 3Q05. |
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In the quarter, the continued growth in
private sector activity was offset by the reduction in public sector
activity. For 2005, the annual rate of decline eased to 1.1% from
6.1% a year earlier. |
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THE WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE SECTOR
expanded by 12% in 4Q05, an improvement over the previous quarter¡¯s
11%. |
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This was due to a sharp acceleration in
non-oil reexports, which more than offset a moderation in growth of
retail sales from 10% to 8.0%. |
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The decline in retail sales largely
reflected a slowdown in car sales. Excluding cars, retail sales
growth slowed from 8.2% to 7.3%. Over the year 2005, the wholesale
and retail trade sector registered growth of 10%, a slowdown from
the 16% in 2004. |
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THE HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS SECTOR grew
by 6.2% in 4Q05, up from 4.7% in the previous quarter. |
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Both hotels and restaurants turned in
comparable growth in the quarter, boosted by continued growth in
visitor arrivals. They helped to maintain high levels of occupancy
at hotels and allowed hoteliers to raise average room rates in the
quarter. |
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For the year 2005, the sector grew by
4.6%, in contrast to the sharp 11% rebound from SARS in the previous
year. |
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More..... |
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Source:
www.mti.gov.sg Press Release 16 Feb
2006 |
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FrontPage Edition: Sat 18 Feb 2006
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