Manufacturing growth surpasses 6.6% forecast, steady growth expected for electronics

Singapore

GROWTH in the electronics and precision engineering clusters in the manufacturing sector are expected to be sustained for the rest of the year, while services-producing industries have also shown signs of picking up.

The manufacturing sector grew a respectable 8 per cent in the first quarter of 2017, based on the fuller estimates released by Ministry of Trade and Industry on Thursday.

The latest reading came off the peak of 11.5 per cent growth year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2016. But it was an upward revision from the advanced estimates of 6.6 per cent based on data from the first two months of the year as an early indicator.

But on a quarter-on-quarter, seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the manufacturing sector shrunk by 1.5 per …