Economists split over risk of technical recession, after revised Singapore Q1 growth beats market expectations

[SINGAPORE] Private-sector economists remain split over the risk of Singapore entering a technical recession, with some raising their full-year forecasts after Q1 growth came in better than expected.

Singapore’s gross domestic product grew 3.9 per cent year on year in Q1, revised up marginally from the advance estimate of 3.8 per cent, Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) figures indicated on Thursday (May 22).

Though it was a slowdown from the previous quarter’s 5 per cent growth, it surpassed economists’ expectations of 3.6 per cent.