Economists trim GDP, inflation forecasts in latest MAS survey

Q1 GDP growth is pegged at 2%.

The latest survey of professional forecasters conducted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore showed that economists are less upbeat about Singapore’s inflation and growth prospects for 2015.

In the latest survey, the forecasters expect the economy to grow by 2.8% in 2015, down from the previous forecast of 3.1%.

For the first quarter of this year, the respondents expect GDP to grow by 2.0%. This is a downgrade from the earlier 2.5% forecast. 

The median CPI inflation forecast for 2015 has fallen to 0.1% in the latest survey, from the 1.1% reported in the December survey.

The respondents also expect MAS Core Inflation to be 1.0%, below the 1.9% projected in the previous survey. For Q1 2015, CPI All-Items inflation is expected to come in at -0.2%. As for the labour market, the respondents continue to forecast the unemployment rate to be 2.0% by year-end.