SINGAPORE, May 26 ― Singapore’s economy grew more than initially estimated last quarter as demand for the island’s exports improved amid a recovery in the US.
Gross domestic product rose an annualised 3.2 per cent in the three months through March from the previous quarter, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement today, compared with an April estimate of 1.1 per cent. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 14 economists was 2 per cent.
The island’s central bank said last month growth will be supported by a firmer recovery in the US, Europe and Japan, after it held back from further monetary policy easing. The US jobless rate in April fell to the lowest since May 2008, indicating the economy is settling into a moderate pace of expansion, while China’s leaders have stepped up stimulus measures.
“The US numbers should start to improve in terms of consumption,” Wai Ho Leong, a Singapore-based economist at Barclays Plc, said before the report. “China should start to show signs of stability in the third quarter; it’s a better story for Singapore.”
Singapore’s economy expanded 2.6 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, after growing 2.1 per cent in the previous three months, the trade ministry said today. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was for a 2.2 per cent gain.
The government reiterated its forecast of 2 per cent to 4 per cent growth this year. The economy grew 4.9 per cent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore, which uses the island’s dollar to manage price pressure, said April 14 it would maintain a modest and gradual appreciation of the local dollar without adjusting the pace of the currency’s moves. The central bank unexpectedly eased monetary policy in January. ― Bloomberg
