Q2's GDP rebound hints at upgrade to official growth outlook in August, say economists

AN upgrade to Singapore's official growth outlook could come as early as next month, now that the Republic has posted a stellar rebound in the second quarter, economists have said.

Gross domestic product (GDP) jumped 14.3 per cent year on year in Q2, benefiting from the low base last year, when the economy contracted a record 13.3 per cent due to the "circuit breaker" from April 7 to June 1, the advance estimates by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) indicated on Wednesday.

Sequentially though, GDP in Q2 contracted 2 per cent on a seasonally-adjusted basis, undoing the previous quarter's gains of 3.1 per cent.

These numbers came below expectations for private-sector economists, who had predicted a 14.8 per cent year-on-year s…

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