Electronics, biomed clusters spur Q4 manufacturing growth

Singapore

THE electronics and biomedical manufacturing clusters powered the expansion of the manufacturing sector, which grew 6.5 per cent year on year in the final quarter of 2016.

This is a jump from the 1.7 per cent growth in the previous quarter, as shown by advanced estimates of the real gross domestic product (GDP) by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Tuesday.

But this growth is not broad-based; the transport engineering and general manufacturing clusters continued to contract.

On a quarter-on-quarter and seasonally adjusted basis, the sector grew by an annualised 14.6 per cent, a sharp rebound from a 8.1 per cent decline in the preceding qua…