Singapore growth forecast still stuck at 1-3% despite 1Q13 gains

Government retains forecast on lingering risks.

"Despite the stabilisation of external macroeconomic conditions since late last year, risks to global growth outlook remain. Hence barring downside risks, the MTI maintains its 2013 GDP growth forecast at 1.0-3.0%," said OCBC Research on why the government retained its economic growth forecast.

Here's the full growth forecast recap from OCBC:

According to the MTI, the Singapore economy grew by 0.2% YoY in 1Q13, better than the street’s expectations of -0.6% growth, but worse than the 1.5% growth seen in 4Q12.

On a seasonally adjusted, annualised basis, the economy expanded by 1.8% QoQ, compared to the 3.3% growth in 4Q12. Manufacturing contracted by 12.3% QoQ, reversing the 3.1% growth in 4Q12, largely due to lower output in the biomedical manufacturing and transport engineering clusters.

Construction grew by 16.5%, compared to 4Q12’s 3.9% negative growth, due to a strong rebound in private sector building activities. Finally, services expanded by 7.9% after 4Q12’s 2.5% rise, driven mainly by the finance and insurance sector.