Q2 GDP may be lowered from estimates as factories disappoint in June

Industrial production has fallen by 6.7 per cent year on year, on a poor showing in the volatile biomedical cluster

Annabeth Leow

Published Fri, Jul 24, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Singapore

SINGAPORE factories ran out of steam in June, with the sector's second straight month of output decline a blow to economy watchers.

Industrial production fell by 6.7 per cent year on year, on a poor showing in the volatile biomedical cluster, according to preliminary figures released on Friday. Manufacturing would have expanded by 2.1 per cent otherwise.

While the pace of the fall was more gradual, the latest numbers still extended manufacturing losses from the 8.1 per cent drop seen in May. Private-sector economists, who had expected a milder contraction of just 2.6 per cent, now expect second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) to be downgraded from flash data.

That is especially as manufacturing was tipped to be a pillar of strength for the economy, with the larger services sector battered by the deadly novel …