Singapore hits slowest economic expansion since 2009

It registered a full-year growth of 1.8% in 2016.

Singapore’s economic growth quickened to the fastest pace in more than three years last quarter as manufacturing and services rebounded, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Gross domestic product rose an annualized 9.1% in the three months to December from the previous quarter, when it declined a revised 1.9%, the trade ministry said in a statement. The median estimate of nine economists in a Bloomberg survey was for a 4% expansion. GDP rose 1.8% in the 4Q16 from a year earlier, compared with the 0.3% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The Singapore expanded 1.8% in 2016, the slowest pace since 2009.

Singapore, among Asia’s most-export dependent nations, is seeking new growth engines to boost incomes as its population ages and trade falters. With global growth under pressure and the U.S. threatening to turn more protectionist under Donald Trump, the outlook remains cloudy. That will be a consideration for the central bank in its April policy review after it signaled in October it will stick to its neutral currency policy for an extended period of time.

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