Biomedical manufacturing helps push GDP up by 1.3% in Q3

The Singapore economy grew by 5.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter of 2011 mainly due to a pick-up in growth in the biomedical manufacturing cluster.

On a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter annualised basis, the economy grew by 1.3 per cent, after contracting by 6.3 per cent in the previous quarter.

Releasing the advance gross domestic product estimates for the third quarter today, the Ministry of Trade and Industry expects GDP growth for the whole year to be around five per cent, reports Bernama News.

On a year-on-year basis, the manufacturing sector expanded by 13.2 per cent in the third quarter, after contracting by 5.8 per cent in the preceding quarter.

On a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter annualised basis, the sector grew by 8.9 per cent, reversing the 23.7 per cent decline in the preceding quarter.

This largely reflects a surge in output in the biomedical manufacturing cluster, which more than offset the decline in the electronics cluster.

The construction sector grew marginally by 0.4 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the third quarter, following the growth of 1.5 per cent in the preceding quarter.

On a sequential basis, the construction sector contracted by 11.5 per cent, following two consecutive quarters of expansion. This was largely due to a decline in private sector building activities.

The services producing industries grew by 3.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis, compared to the 4.0 per cent growth in the preceding quarter.

On a sequential basis, the services producing industries contracted marginally by 0.7 per cent.

The transport and storage and financial services sectors saw relatively lower levels of activity compared to the preceding quarter.

The MTI said growth could be weighed down by the softening global economic conditions for the rest of the year. It pointed out that the electronics cluster is expected to remain weak due to an easing of the global electronics demand.

Sentiment sensitive activities within the financial services sector could also be dampened by heightened economic and financial uncertainties.

As pharmaceutical output is expected to be higher in the near-term compared to a year ago, the biomedical manufacturing cluster could provide some support to growth.