SINGAPORE, Aug 12 — Singapore’s economy unexpectedly expanded last quarter amid recoveries in advanced countries and a government plan to boost productivity and attract new industries.

Gross domestic product rose an annualized 0.1 per cent in the three months through June from the previous quarter, when it climbed a revised 1.8 per cent, the trade ministry said in a statement today. That compares with a July estimate of a 0.8 per cent contraction and the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 14 economists for a 0.3 per cent drop.

The Southeast Asian nation is benefiting from a pickup in global growth, which is helping to offset higher business costs as the government pursues a plan to slow the inflow of foreign workers, boost productivity and attract new industries. US service industries grew in July at the fastest pace since December 2005, signalling the world’s biggest economy was hitting its stride entering the second half of 2014.

“There are good reasons to believe that the fruits of restructuring are picking up,” Michael Wan, a Singapore-based economist at Credit Suisse Group AG, said before the data, citing the nation’s resilient services exports. “We expect growth to range between 3 per cent and 3.5 per cent in the second half because of the anticipated pick up in global growth.”

The economy expanded 2.4 per cent in the second quarter from a year earlier, after growing a revised 4.8 per cent in the previous three months, the trade ministry said today. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was for a 2.3 per cent gain. — Bloomberg