Singapore economy grows by better-than-expected 2.9% in Q2

Economic growth in the past three months added to the fastest pace of expansion in six quarters, as reviving global demand for electronic goods put Singapore’s semiconductor industry back in the driving seat.

- Ovais Subhani

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 2.9 per cent year on year in the second quarter, according to advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on July 12. That came after the first-quarter growth was revised higher to 3 per cent – the fastest pace since the 4.2 per cent expansion in the third quarter of 2022.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis and seasonally adjusted, the economy expanded 0.4 per cent, the most since the second quarter of 2023 and up from a revised 0.3 per cent gain in the first quarter of 2024.

The year-on-year growth was higher than the 2.7 per cent forecast by economists polled by Bloomberg, while quarter-on-quarter growth was in line with their projection.

Growth was supported by a 0.5 per cent year-on-year rebound in manufacturing, after a 1.7 per cent contraction in the first three months of the year.

Along with construction that grew 4.3 per cent, the overall goods-producing industry posted an expansion of 1.3 per cent versus contraction of 0.7 per cent.

The manufacturing sector expansion in the second quarter saw growth across all its clusters, except for biomedical manufacturing and precision engineering, said MTI.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, manufacturing grew by 0.6 per cent, rebounding from the 5.3 per cent contraction in the first quarter.