Singapore’s economic growth slows to 2% in 2015 as manufacturing stumbles

Manufacturing contracted by 5.2%.

Singapore’s economy grew by a slower pace of 2% for the whole of 2015, compared to 3.3% for 2014. The decline was on back of a sharp decline in manufacturing output, which accounts for roughly a third of the city-state’s economy.

Statistics released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) show that the manufacturing sector contracted by 5.2% last year, a far cry from its measly growth of 2.7% in 2014.
All the manufacturing clusters, with the exception of the chemicals cluster, saw a decline in output.

Meanwhile, growth in the construction sector moderated to 2.5 per cent, from 3.5 per cent in 2014, primarily due to a lower volume of private industrial and residential building activities.

The services producing industries grew by 3.4% in 2015, easing slightly from the 3.6% growth in 2014. Services growth was supported mainly by the wholesale & retail trade and finance & insurance sectors, which expanded by 6.1% and 5.3%, respectively.

The Singapore economy grew by 1.8 % year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter, unchanged from the third quarter. The manufacturing sector contracted by 6.7 per cent year-on-year, extending the 6.0 per cent decline in the preceding quarter. 

On the other hand, the construction sector grew by 4.9 per cent year-on-year, faster than the 3.0 per cent growth in the previous quarter.

For 2016, MTI has maintained the GDP growth forecast at 1.0 to 3.0 per cent.