Singapore
WITH manufacturing caught in the doldrums, Singapore's services sector may seem like a lifeline for optimists hoping for economic growth.
But it is unlikely that services - which fed nearly 70 per cent of last year's nominal gross domestic product (GDP) - could pull enough weight to shelter the Republic from the ongoing pangs of a slowdown, economists told The Business Times.
Though export-oriented factories fared poorest amid a global trade war, services are also vulnerable in Singapore's open economy, analysts said.
The Republic's services exports were worth S$246.2 billion in 2018, led by transport. The sector's export value outstripped the S$182.1 billion in non-oil domestic exports...