Economists still expect Singapore GDP growth of 1.8% for 2016: MAS poll

THE Singapore economy is still expected to grow by 1.8 per cent in 2016, according to the latest quarterly survey conducted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) which polled 22 private sector economists.

This figure is unchanged from the last survey in June.

However, the Singapore economy expanded by 2.1 per cent in Q2 2016, which was slightly above the median forecast of 2 per cent. For Q3 2016, the respondents expect GDP to expand by 1.7 per cent

The median inflation forecast for 2016 fell slightly to -0.5 per cent from the -0.4 per cent reported in the June survey, a release from MAS said. For Q3 2016, inflation is projected at -0.4 per cent.

The respondents also expect core inflation to clock one per cent in 2016, which is higher than the previous survey. Meanwhile, the respondents expect the unemployment rate to be 2.2 per cent at year-end.

For 2017 as a whole, they expect GDP to grow by 1.8 per cent, the survey showed.