Singapore's Q4 growth eases to 4.4%

[SINGAPORE] Economic growth eased more than expected in the final quarter of 2013, even as the Republic turned in a better full- year performance, preliminary government estimates released yesterday showed.

Coming two days after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong disclosed the full-year growth figure for 2013, which was better than first thought, the Ministry of Trade and Industry's (MTI) "advance estimates" showed that the economy grew 4.4 per cent year-on-year in the last quarter of last year, down from an upward revision of 5.9 per cent (from 5.8 per cent) in the third quarter.

The growth was also below the 4.8 per cent increase that the market had expected.