Singapore economy grew 3.8% in 2Q

Here are the growth drivers.

According to a release by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Singapore economy grew by 3.8 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the second quarter of 2013, compared to 0.2 per cent in the previous quarter.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy grew by 15.5 per cent, significantly higher than the 1.7 per cent expansion in the previous quarter.

The acceleration in the quarter-on-quarter growth momentum was mainly due to robust growth in the manufacturing, wholesale & retail trade, transportation & storage, and finance & insurance sectors.

On a year-on-year basis, the manufacturing sector grew by 0.2 per cent, reversing the 6.7 per cent decline in the previous quarter. Growth was mainly supported by the biomedical manufacturing and electronics clusters. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the manufacturing sector expanded at an annualised rate of 32.1 per cent, a sharp rebound from the 12.1 per cent contraction in the previous quarter.

The construction sector grew by 5.1 per cent on a year-on-year basis, marginally lower than the 5.8 per cent growth in the preceding quarter. The expansion was underpinned by robust construction activities in the private sector.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the sector expanded at an annualised rate of 11.2 per cent, faster than the 10.3 per cent growth in the preceding quarter.

The wholesale & retail trade sector expanded at a much faster pace of 5.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis, compared to the 0.2 per cent growth in the previous quarter.

This was largely due to an expansion in the wholesale trade segment, which was supported by an increase in electronics re-exports. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the sector grew at an annualised rate of 22.1 per cent, in contrast to the 2.6 per cent contraction in the preceding quarter.

The transportation & storage sector grew by 2.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis, on the back of better performance in the water transport segment. This was a reversal from the 0.9 per cent contraction in the previous quarter.

On a quarteron-quarter annualised basis, the sector grew by 19.6 per cent, a rebound from the 9.8 per cent decline in the preceding quarter.

The finance & insurance sector expanded by 13.1 per cent on a year-on-year basis, after growing by 10.6 per cent in the previous quarter. Growth was
supported by strong performances in the financial intermediation and sentiment sensitive clusters.

On a quarter-on-quarter annualised basis, the sector grew by9.2 per cent, following the surge of 51.2 per cent in the preceding quarter. The