Chart of the day: Check out Singapore’s severely underperforming services sector

Services growth clocked in at only 1.4%.

Singapore’s once bustling services sector has slowed down to a crawl, as growth in Q2 came only at 1.4%, its slowest since 2009.

According to a report by Standard Chartered, the sector has now contracted for two consecutive quarters.

“Financial, wholesale and retail trade, and business services all underperformed versus H1-2015. Bank lending was the slowest in more than a decade, and retail sales (ex-autos) were poor,” the report noted.

Additionally, the report added that the still-soft real-estate market, despite showing some improvement in private residential property transactions, failed to support business-services growth.

On the other hand, Standard Chartered noted that the accommodation and food-services sector did better, posting 1.7% y/y growth in H1.

“However, performance diverged – accommodation was supported by a pick-up in tourism, while food services remained weak, reflecting soft local demand,” the report added.