S'pore economy expands 2.7% in first quarter, weaker than forecast

Quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.1% slowest in a year, but outlook tipped to be brighter

- Claire Huang

Singapore's economy in the first three months of 2024 grew at its weakest quarter-on-quarter pace in a year as manufacturing slowed, but economists see growth strengthening ahead.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the economy expanded by 0.1 per cent in the first quarter, down from the 1.2 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to advance estimates released on April 12 by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).

OCBC Bank chief economist Selena Ling noted that quarter-on quarter growth was the slowest since the first quarter of 2023. It is also lower than the 0.5 per cent gain tipped by analysts in a Bloomberg poll.

Compared with the same period last year, the economy grew 2.7 per cent, higher than the 2.2 per cent expansion in the fourth quarter of 2023. However, this figure also missed the Bloomberg poll's median forecast of 3 per cent growth.