Advanced estimates by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in Singapore showed that Singapore's economy grew 4.6 percent in the third quarter of 2017.
This is higher than the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 2.9 percent seen in the previous quarter. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy posted an even greater growth of 6.3 percent.
Of all the sectors, growth in the manufacturing sector is the most outstanding, with output expanding by 15.5 percent year-on-year in Q3. This pace extended its 8.2 percent growth in the past quarter.
According to MTI, the sector was supported by strong growth in the electronics, biomedical manufacturing, and precision engineering clusters.
On a quarterly basis, the sector posted a boosted growth of 23.1 percent, a huge jump from the previous quarter's 3.2 percent expansion.
Meanwhile, the services industries reported a slight improvement in output, up 2.6 percent from 2.5 percent in the previous quarter. The improvement was due to the support from the finance & insurance, wholesale & retail, trade, and transportation & storage sectors.
Basing on a quarterly scale, the sector moderated to a 1.5 percent growth in the quarter, down from 3.3 percent.
The worst performance came from the construction sector, extending its 6.8 percent decline in the previous quarter to report a 6.3 percent slump in output in Q3. The sector was dragged down by the persistent weakness in the private sector construction activities.
It is even worse if the quarterly basis is to be taken. MTI said the sector contracted reversed its 2.4 percent expansion in the preceding quarter to report a 9.2 percent slump in Q3.
The advance GDP estimates for the third quarter of 2017 are computed largely from data collected in the first two months of the quarter. This is intended to paint an expected picture of the city-state's economic performance for the whole quarter.
MTI will be releasing its preliminary GDP estimates for the third quarter in its quarterly survey that will be published in November.
