SINGAPORE’S economy grew 2.9 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2024, comparable to the revised growth rate of 3 per cent in the previous quarter, going by advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Friday (Jul 12).
On a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, gross domestic product rose 0.4 per cent, up from the previous quarter’s revised 0.3 per cent growth figure.
Year-on-year growth beat economists’ expectations of 2.7 per cent, while quarter-on-quarter growth was in line with their forecast.
Manufacturing grew 0.5 per cent year on year in Q2, reversing from the 1.7 per cent fall charted in the previous quarter.
“Growth in the sector was supported by output expansions across all manufacturing clusters, except for the biomedical manufacturing and precision engineering clusters,” MTI said.
Sequentially, the manufacturing sector rose 0.6 per cent, turning around from the previous quarter’s 5.3 per cent decline.
Meanwhile, construction gained 4.3 per cent year on year, up from 4.1 per cent in the preceding quarter.
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“Growth during the quarter was supported by an increase in public-sector construction output,” MTI said.
Quarter on quarter, seasonally adjusted, the construction sector expanded 2.4 per cent, reversing from the 1.9 per cent contraction in Q1.
Overall services growth worsened to 3.3 per cent in Q2, down from 4.3 per cent previously. Sequentially, services growth was flat, declining from the previous quarter’s 2.2 per cent growth rate.
Within services, the wholesale and retail trade sector, along with the transportation and storage sector, collectively grew 2.5 per cent on the year in Q2, moderating from 3.9 per cent in Q1.
Sequentially, the sectors expanded 0.7 per cent in Q2, down from 2.7 per cent in the previous quarter.
The group of services sectors comprising information and communications, finance and insurance, and professional services expanded 5.6 per cent year on year, marginally lower than 5.7 per cent in Q1.
Sequentially, this group grew 1.4 per cent, reversing from the 2.8 per cent decline in the preceding quarter.
Growth for the remaining group of services sectors – accommodation and food services, real estate, administrative and support services, as well as other services – came in at 1.9 per cent on the year. This was slower than the 3 per cent growth in the preceding quarter.
“Within the group, all sectors except for the real estate and food services sectors expanded during the quarter,” MTI said. “In particular, growth in the accommodation and administrative and support services sectors was supported by the sustained recovery in international visitor arrivals.”
This group of services sectors collectively contracted 0.5 per cent on a sequential basis in Q2, turning around from the 2.3 per cent growth in the prior quarter.
