GDP up 5.9% YoY in Q4

Overall, GDP increased 7.2% in 2021.

An announcement from the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed that the Singapore economy grew by 5.9% in the fourth quarter (Q4) on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.     

This follows the 7.1% growth from the previous quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy expanded by 2.6% in Q4, higher than the 1.2% growth from the previous quarter. 

Overall, the economy increased by 7.2% in 2021, a recovery from the 5.4% recorded in 2020. 

YoY, goods-producing industries (GPI) and services-producing industries (SPI) experienced upticks of 12.9% and 5.2%, respectively. For GPI, manufacturing sectors led with an estimated 14% YoY growth. This was due to demand for the electronics and precision engineer clusters, as well as sustained global demand for semiconductors and associated equipment.

Meanwhile, construction had a 2% YoY increase in Q4, due to labour shortages brought by border restrictions on the entry of migrant workers. The recorded value was also lower than the 66.3% growth from the third quarter.

The SPI, meanwhile, had a growth of 4.6% for Q4, with Information & Communications, Finance & Insurance and Professional Services being the top sector with a 6% growth due to demand for IT and digital solutions.

Following this is Wholesale and Retail Trade and Transportation and Storage, with a growth of 4.3%. Performance in this sector was affected due to low base effects in the transportation and storage sector, whilst the wholesale trade sector’s output was parallel to the performance of Singapore’s exports. 

The remaining sectors, accommodation and food services, real estate, administrative and support services, and other services sectors, collectively grew by 3.1% YoY in Q4, with the accommodation and food services sector being the only one to not record expansion. This was due to both ongoing travel restrictions and domestic restrictions, such as dining-in. Despite this, however, the combined performance of these sectors outpaced the previous quarter’s growth of 3.8%.