Singapore's economy will continue to grow, recover in H2 2021 and into 2022: Iswaran

SINGAPORE'S outward-facing sectors will continue to grow at a healthy pace in the second half of the year, "barring a major setback in the global economy".

That's the prognosis from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), in a reply on Monday to a parliamentary question on the economic outlook.

Meanwhile, the economy is expected to "continue to recover" in 2022 on the back of positive global growth, Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations S Iswaran told the House.

International border restrictions and weak travel demand are expected to dampen tourism and aviation-related sectors in the months ahead, he said, while speaking on behalf of Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong.

But a rollback in domestic and border restrictions "will also help to support the recovery of consumer-facing sectors... and alleviate labour shortages in sectors that are reliant on migrant workers", added Mr Iswaran, who is also Transport Minister. That's on top of the projected strength in Singapore's external-oriented sectors, such as manufacturing and finance.

The optimism came as the progress in Singapore's national vaccination programme against the coronavirus is expected to enable "the progressive easing" of both internal and border restrictions in 2021.

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People's Action Party MP Liang Eng Hwa (Bukit Panjang) had asked about the economic outlook for 2022, as well as reasons behind a recent upgrade of the official gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2021.

Noting that the MTI last month lifted its GDP growth estimate to between 6 per cent and 7 per cent in 2021, Mr Iswaran attributed the revision to a better-than-expected first-half showing in the Singapore economy, as well as vaccine rollouts and economic reopenings in other advanced and regional markets.

"The global economic recovery has remained largely on track, notwithstanding the risks posed by the pandemic," Mr Iswaran added.