Economy to grow by nearly 3% in 2017: PM Lee

Washington

SINGAPORE'S economy should grow by close to 3 per cent this year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday evening (Monday morning, Singapore time).

He gave his upbeat assessment of the country's prospects in a short speech to over 200 Singaporeans at a reception held at the Singapore's Embassy in Washington, DC.

It comes as advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry this month put year-on-year growth for the third quarter of this year at 4.6 per cent. Mr Lee attributed this to a strong showing by the manufacturing sector, and added that services had performed "okay" as well.

In August, the government had revised its growth estimates for this year to between 2 per cent and 3 per …