Singapore GDP Grows 1.5% In Q4

(RTTNews) - Singapore's gross domestic product expanded just 1.5 percent on year in the fourth quarter of 2014, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in Friday's preliminary reading.

That was down from the 2.8 percent growth in the third quarter.

Seasonally adjusted and on an annualized quarterly basis, GDP added 1.6 percent - slowing from 3.1 percent in Q3.

Among the individual components of the economy, the manufacturing sector contracted 2.0 percent on year in Q4, a reversal from the 1.7 percent expansion in the previous quarter. The sector also contracted 5.8 percent on quarter, reversing the 3.0 percent growth in Q3.

The contraction was mainly due to a decline in the output of the transport engineering, electronics and general manufacturing clusters, the statistics bureau said.

The construction sector gained 0.8 percent on year, moderating from 1.3 percent in the previous quarter. On quarter, the sector expanded 8.0 percent, an improvement from the 0.1 percent gain in Q3.

Growth was supported mainly by public sector construction activities, the MTI said.

The services producing industries advanced 2.6 percent on year in the fourth quarter, easing from the 3.4 percent growth in the preceding quarter. On quarter, the sector gained 3.8 percent, up from 3.6 percent in Q3.

Growth was supported primarily by the finance and insurance and business services sectors, the bureau said.

For all of 2014, GDP gained 2.8 percent, slowing from 3.9 percent in 2013 but still in line with MTI's earlier announced growth forecast of around 3.0 percent.

The bureau expected growth of 2.0 to 4.0 percent in 2015.