The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) of Singapore on 23 November narrowed its forecast contraction to between 6 percent and 6.5 percent in 2020, from 5 percent to 7 percent before, as GDP improved in the third quarter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) of Singapore on 23 November narrowed its forecast contraction to between 6 percent and 6.5 percent in 2020 (Photo: businesstimes.com.sg)

The economy shrank by 5.8 percent year-on-year in Q3, beating an earlier estimate of a 7-percent decline, on better-than-expected factory output in September. The latest print takes the contraction for the first nine months to 6.5 percent.

The country’s GDP is projected to grow by 4 percent to 6 percent in 2021, as the world's major economies recover from the economic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The recovery of the Singapore economy in the year ahead is expected to be gradual, and will depend to a large extent on how the global economy performs and whether Singapore is able to continue to keep the domestic COVID-19 situation under control, the MTI added.

With Singapore in the second phase of its three-stage reopening, the economy shrank by a more gradual 5.8 percent year-on-year in the July-September period, moderating from the 13.3 percent plunge seen in the three months prior.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Singapore's GDP added 9.2 percent in the third quarter, after slipping 13.2 percent in the second quarter.

Source: VNA