Singapore GDP up 4.3% in Q1 2018

This was bolstered by the manufacturing sector, which grew 10.1%.

Singapore's GDP growth for the first quarter of 2018 hit 4.3% YoY, higher the 3.6% growth in the previous quarter, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) revealed.

According to an announcement, this was largely powered by manufacturing (10.1% YoY), led by the electronics and precision engineering clusters, and services growth (3.8% YoY), led by finance & insurance and wholesale & retail trade.

JP Morgan analyst Benjamin Shatil said the services sector was softer, (-2.1% QoQ), despite a pickup in financial services activity over the past few months as proxied by FX transaction volumes. "There may also have been a drag from slowing inventory growth last quarter after strong accumulation in the prior few quarters," he added.

Construction remained a drag (-4.4% YoY) due to the fall in both private sector and public sector construction activities. OCBC Treasury Research said noted that construction continued to shrink for the sixth consecutive quarter.

Shatil expects the continuation of a "moderate, trend-like" pace of expansion into Q2.