Singapore’s GDP grows 5.4% in Q3, beating estimates: METI flash data

[SINGAPORE] The Republic’s economy expanded 5.4 per cent year on year in the third quarter of 2026, moderating from the previous quarter’s 6.2 per cent, advance estimates from the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed on Wednesday (Oct 14) morning.

This was higher than the 5.1 per cent consensus estimate, based on a Bloomberg poll of private-sector economists.

On a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, gross domestic product rose 1.1 per cent, extending the 1.5 per cent growth recorded in the second quarter.

Manufacturing rose by 7.5 per cent year on year in Q3, slowing down sharply from the 12.9 per cent expansion in the preceding quarter.

“Growth during the quarter was supported by output expansions in the electronics, precision engineering, transport engineering and general manufacturing clusters, which outweighed output declines in the chemicals and biomedical manufacturing clusters,” METI said.

On a seasonally adjusted sequential basis, the manufacturing sector slipped 0.9 per cent, in a turnaround from the 6.3 per cent expansion in Q2.

The construction sector, meanwhile, grew 8.8 per cent on the year, faster than the 6.1 per cent growth recorded in the preceding quarter, as both public and private-sector construction output increased.

Quarter on quarter, construction gained 3.4 per cent, reversing from Q2’s 2.7 per cent contraction.

The overall services sector expanded 5.2 per cent year on year in Q3, the same pace as in Q2, led by wholesale trade and transportation and storage.

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On a quarter on quarter, seasonally adjusted basis, the services-producing industries were up 1.2 per cent, picking up from a growth of 0.7 per cent in Q2.

The wholesale and retail trade and transportation and storage industry, taken together, was up 8 per cent year on year, picking up from the 6.9 per cent growth registered in the preceding quarter.

All categories within the group expanded during the quarter except for retail trade, METI said.

The information and communications, finance and insurance, and professional services cluster marked a 4.3 per cent year-on-year expansion in Q3, easing from Q2’s 5.1 per cent growth.

The cluster comprising accommodation and food services, real estate, administrative and support services, as well as other services, grew 2.1 per cent, slowing from 2.4 per cent in Q2.

Meanwhile, the Monetary Authority of Singapore on Wednesday morning kept its Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate policy settings unchanged, bucking private-sector economists’ market expectations. The move came after two consecutive policy tightenings earlier this year.