SINGAPORE: Analysts are less optimistic about Singapore’s economy, cutting their growth forecast for 2016 for the third time this year, according to a quarterly survey released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Wednesday (Dec 14).
Growth is now expected to come in at 1.4 per cent this year, down from earlier forecasts of 1.8 per cent in the June survey and 1.9 per cent in the March survey.
While in line with the Government’s forecast of 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent growth, it would be Singapore’s weakest annual growth since 2009.
The Singapore economy expanded by 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, lower than the median forecast of 1.7 per cent by analysts in the September survey. For the fourth quarter of 2016, the economists said they expect the economy to expand by 0.8 per cent.
Looking ahead, economists said they expect the unemployment rate to be 2.1 per cent at year-end, slightly down from the 2.2 per cent in September’s prediction.
The respondents also revised their predictions for the city-state’s economic growth for 2017: GDP is now expected to come in at 1.5 per cent next year, compared to an earlier prediction of 1.8 per cent. Headline inflation for next year is forecast to be 1 per cent, unchanged from the previous survey, while MAS core inflation for 2017 is expected to be 1.3 per cent, slightly down from the 1.4 per cent predicted in the previous survey.
The MAS Survey of Professional Forecasters is conducted every quarter after the release of detailed economic data for the preceding three months. The median forecasts in the latest report were based on the estimates of 22 economists and analysts, MAS said.
