The Singaporean economy posted better-than-expected results in the first quarter of this year, official data showed yesterday, but the government warned that the global outlook remains gloomy.
The Southeast Asian city-state’s economic performance is often seen as a barometer of the global environment because of its reliance on international trade.
Its economy expanded 0.4 percent year-on-year in first three months, slower than the 2.1 percent year-on-year growth in the previous quarter, but better than an advance estimate released last month, figures released by the Singaporean Ministry of Trade and Industry showed.
Photo: AFP
Quarter-on-quarter, the economy shrank 0.4 percent, but that was also better than expected.
The ministry maintained its growth forecast for this year of 0.5 to 2.5 percent, saying that the figure was likely to be in the middle of that range.
However, “downside risks in the global economy have risen,” it added.
Photo: AP
In its statement, it cited a “sharper-than-expected tightening in global financial conditions,” and “escalations in the war in Ukraine and geopolitical tensions among major global powers.”
There was a weak reading from the manufacturing sector, which shrank 5.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, worsening from the 2.6 percent shrinkage in the fourth quarter last year.
“Singapore’s external demand outlook for the rest of the year has weakened,” the ministry said.
“Apart from the expected slowdown in the advanced economies, the electronics downcycle is likely to be deeper and more prolonged than earlier projected,” it added.
Meanwhile, Germany fell into a recession around the turn of the year, official figures published yesterday showed, as inflation and higher interest rates curbed demand in Europe’s largest economy.
Over the first three months, the economy shrank 0.3 percent, the federal statistics agency Destatis said, downgrading an initial estimate of zero percent.
Following a 0.5 percent contraction in the final three months of last year, it was Germany’s second consecutive quarter of negative growth — the threshold for a “technical recession.”
The slump came as Germany battled a surge in energy prices in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has weighed on households and businesses.
The increased cost of energy has driven inflation, which sat at 7.2 percent in Germany last month, down only slightly from its peak toward the end of last year.
“The persistence of high price increases continued to be a burden on the German economy at the start of the year,” Destatis said in a statement.
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