Aug 10, 2012
by Romesh Navaratnarajah Singapore's
economy grew two percent year-on-year in Q2 2012, compared to 1.5
percent in the preceding quarter, according to the Ministry of Trade and
Industry (MTI).
But in terms of a quarter-on-quarter
seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy dipped 0.7 percent in
Q2 compared to 9.5 percent growth seen in the previous quarter.
The
city-state's economic performance in Q2 exceeded the advance estimates
of a 1.1 percent annualised quarter-on-quarter contraction and 1.9
percent year-on-year growth.
But the detailed Q2 GDP figures
were worse than the consensus estimate of economists surveyed by
Reuters, which predicted a seasonally-adjusted and annualised growth of
0.6 percent quarter-on-quarter and 2.3 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong noted that Singapore's economy could grow by 1.5 to 2.5 percent this year.
In
his National Day speech on Wednesday, he said that the country is
"doing quite well" amid the slowdown in China and India as well as poor
economic conditions in Europe and the US.
The growth forecast
announced by PM Lee was lower than the government's previous estimate of
a one to three percent rise, although the bottom end is higher by half a
percentage point.
Mr Lee revealed that the economy grew 1.7
percent in 1H2012 and assuming that Q1 GDP is retained, Q2 will see two
percent growth year-on-year, slightly above the flash estimate of 1.9
percent.
