Singapore’s economy grew 7.2% last year

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said that the country’s economy contracted by 5.4% in 2020 and was Singapore’s worst recession since independence.

In the last quarter of 2021, GDP grew 5.9% on a year-on-year basis, down from the 7.1% expansion in the previous quarter.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the economy grew 2.6% in the fourth quarter of 2021, faster than the 1.2% growth in the preceding quarter.

By sector, manufacturing was the best performing one in the last quarter of 2021, growing by 14.0% year-on-year, up from the 7.9% in the third quarter. For the full year, the sector grew by 12.8%, up from 7.3% the year before.

The growth in manufacturing during the quarter was supported by output expansions in all clusters, with electronics and precision engineering continuing to record strong output growth, driven by sustained global demand for semiconductors and semiconductor equipment.

The construction sector grew by 2.0% on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter of 2021, slower than the 66.3% growth in the third quarter.

Among the services sectors, the information and communications, finance and insurance as well as professional services sectors saw the best growth of 6.0% in Q4 2021 year-on-year, down from the 8.0% in the previous quarter.

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The wholesale & retail trade and transportation & storage sector grew by 4.3% year-on-year in the last quarter of 2021 – a fall from the 6.2% in Q3. The growth of the accommodation & food services, real estate, administrative & support services and other services sector was 3.1% year-on-year in Q4, a drop from the 3.7% in Q3.