What has remained the only bright spot in Singapore's economy?

The construction sector, thankfully, still posted growth at 2.5% YoY.

Despite the sharper declines in the private sector’s construction activities, the overall construction sector remained the only hope for Singapore economy, recording an expansion of 0.5% and 2.5% in quarterly and year-on-year terms, respectively.

Although it has slowed marginally from 2.6% growth in the previous quarter, it still buoyed overall GDP to 0.6%, which would have deteriorated more due to the 1.1% contraction in manufacturing and 0.1% slowdown in services sector.

Meanwhile, OCBC bank noted that the expansion in construction sector was lifted by public construction activities.

"As such, there is room for stimulative fiscal measures in the FY17 Budget (due in 1Q17), with government spending to underpin the health care and education project pipeline," it said.

In the past 5 quarters, the sector peaked at 4.9% expansion during 4Q15, where overall GDP stood at 1.8%. This recently concluded quarter is its weakest performance in the said period.