Chart of the Day: Manufacturing sector's contribution to GDP hits record low as demand tumbles

This level was last seen during the GFC.

The struggling manufacturing sector has been the biggest drag on Singapore's economic growth over the past two years, according to BMI Research.

This chart shows that the sector's contribution to the overall gross domestic product has fallen to a level last seen during the global financial crisis of 2008. As of Q415, the sector only contributed 17.5% to GDP, compared to a high of over 21% at the beginning of the decade.

"Manufacturing has been hard hit by a tandem of poor external demand (driven in large part by the slowdown in the Chinese economy) and progressively tighter labour laws on the domestic front," BMI Research said.

BMI Research expects the economy to grow by 1.7% for the whole of 2016, a retreat from the economy's 2.0% expansion in 2015. This will also mark the slowest rate of growth for the city-state's economy since it contracted by 0.2% amidst the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2009.