May's manufacturing output up 0.9%

Singapore

DESPITE the slowdown in the growth of manufacturing output in May, economists are hopeful for an above-satisfactory performance for the second quarter, largely because of the high growth in April.

The Economic Development Board (EDB) released industrial-production data showing May's preliminary manufacturing output to have risen by a mere 0.9 per cent from a year ago.

Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output fell 2.3 per cent.

On a seasonally adjusted, month-on-month basis, the numbers were even less impressive: a fall of 0.4 per cent in May; …