Singapore GDP grows for 1st time in a year

By Alex Kennedy | July 15, 2009, Wednesday |

Print Edition

SINGAPORE'S economy grew for the first time in a year, soaring 20 percent in the second quarter, a sign Asia is emerging from the global slump.

Gross domestic product jumped an annualized, seasonally adjusted 20.4 percent in the three months through June from the previous quarter, the Trade and Industry Ministry said yesterday in a statement. It said GDP fell 3.7 percent from year earlier after a 9.6 percent drop in the first quarter.

The ministry now expects the Southeast Asian city-state's economy to shrink between 4 percent and 6 percent this year, better than its previous forecast of a contraction between 6 percent and 9 percent.

"The Singapore economy is back and back with a vengeance," said Robert Prior-Wandesforde, senior Asia economist for HSBC in Singapore. "We very much doubt that today's Singapore GDP release will be the last in Asia to provide a sizable upside surprise."

The island's economy - which relies on exports, finance and tourism - had contracted the previous four quarters as it reeled from a collapse in global trade triggered by the financial crisis. An annualized 16.4 percent drop in the October-December period was the nadir of its deepest recession since splitting from Malaysia in 1965.

Singapore is the first major Asia economy to report second-quarter GDP results. The second-quarter GDP estimate was calculated using data largely from April and May and is subject to revision.

A surge in pharmaceutical output helped boost growth in the second quarter.

Economy

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Singapore GDP grows for 1st time in a year

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