Singapore economy grows 4.6% in Q3; beats expectations

SINGAPORE'S economy grew by 4.6 per cent compared to a year ago for the third quarter of 2017, based on advance estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) growth by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Friday morning.

This comes in higher than the 2.9 per cent growth seen in the preceding quarter, and higher than market consensus.

An earlier poll of economists by Bloomberg forecast a median growth of 3.8 per cent.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy expanded by 6.3 per cent, an improvement from the 2.4 per cent growth in the second quarter.

The manufacturing sector expanded by 15.5 per cent on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis in Q3, faster than the 8.2 per cent growth in the previous quarter, mainly supported by the electronics, biomedical manufacturing and precision engineering clusters.

The services producing industries grew by 2.6 per cent y-o-y in the third quarter, similar to the 2.5 per cent growth in the previous quarter.

The construction sector contracted by 6.3 per cent y-o-y in the quarter, extending the 6.8 per cent decline in the second quarter.

Fuller estimates of GDP growth for Q3 will be unveiled in November.