Singapore's economy narrowly misses a contraction in Q2

The economy expanded by 0.1%.

The domestic economy beat consensus expectations by posting a surprising 2.4% growth in the second quarter, which translates to an expansion of 0.1%.

According to data released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Singapore economy grew by 2.4 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the second quarter, moderating from the 4.8 per cent growth in the previous quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy expanded by 0.1 per cent, slower than the 1.8 per cent growth in the preceding quarter.

Here’s more from the MTI:

Against this backdrop, the Singapore economy is expected to grow at a modest pace in 2014. In particular, externally-oriented sectors such as finance & insurance and wholesale trade are likely to support growth in the second half of the year, in tandem with the modest pick-up in the global economy.

Domestically-oriented sectors such as business services and information & communications are also expected to remain resilient in the second half of 2014.

However, growth in some labour-intensive segments such as retail and food services may be weighed down by labour constraints. Taking these factors into consideration, the 2014 growth forecast for the Singapore economy is narrowed to 2.5 to 3.5 per cent.