Consumer prices may rise more than 6.5 per cent in the first half of the year. But, according to Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang, the inflation rate is expected to go down in the second half of 2008. Singapore's inflation rate has been hovering at its highest level in 26 years. This has been fuelled by a rise in prices of food and raw materials. Last week, the Monetary Authority of Singapore...
Singapore Economy
Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Sunday said Singapore has to be on its guard against inflation, or the country's growth could be undermined. Responding to questions about the recent monetary adjustments made by Singapore's central bank, Mr Tharman said the adjustments were not made in response to short-term inflationary pressures. "If you don't continuously focus on the mid-term, we'll also...
Monetary authority acts to curb inflation The Singapore dollar climbed to a record high yesterday after a surprise tightening in monetary policy aimed at combating inflation. The currency jumped 1.7 per cent in Asian trade to touch a high of $1.3567 in afternoon trade - its largest single-day gain since October 1998. While a rising Singapore dollar can provide consumers some respite from spiralling...
Singapore’s economy has not only averted a technical recession but bounced back with a vengeance in the first quarter of this year. Flash estimates show GDP grew 7.2 per cent year-on-year, thanks largely to a big swing in pharmaceutical exports. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew a surprising 16.9 per cent. However, experts warn about getting too excited. This flash estimate may not give...
Singapore’s economy grew an annual 7.2 per cent in the first quarter, faster than the 5.4 per cent expansion recorded in the previous three months, the government said on Thursday. Last quarter’s performance was also better than economists’ average growth forecast of a 6.4 per cent expansion. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis, real gross domestic product for the first...
The Singapore economy probably rebounded in the first quarter, escaping a technical recession. A Today strawpoll of seven private sector economists shows all those surveyed expect the Government to announce positive GDP growth, when it unveils flash GDP estimates for the first quarter tomorrow. “But the question is: is there a sustainable demand in the pipeline?” said Mr Vishnu Varathan, an economist...
Inflation may not yet have peaked, warns Finance Minister Singapore’s inflation rate, already at a 26-year high, may not have peaked and policy-makers must be ready to respond to unexpected economic developments, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Friday “It’s too early to say that inflation has peaked,” Mr Shanmugaratnam told reporters at a meeting of finance ministers from the...
Singapore has received the thumbs-up from expatriate businessmen in the region as the cleanest Asian economy. In a latest survey by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), both Singapore and Hong Kong retained their top spots of first and second, respectively. Over 1,400 expatriates were asked to rank 13 Asian economies between January and February this year. The 13 economies were China,...
Singapore's economy will grow 5.7 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, picking up slightly from a 5.4 percent expansion in the fourth quarter, a central bank survey showed on Monday. However, growth in the full year will slow from last year’s pace of 7.7 percent to 5.6 percent, the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) quarterly survey of 19 economists showed. In a statement, MAS added that...
The construction industry is expected to lead Singapore's economic growth this year, according to 19 economists polled in the latest quarterly survey by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). They projected an expansion of 15.9 per cent for the construction sector this year, up 2.4 percentage points from the forecast in the previous MAS survey in December. Analysts Channel NewsAsia spoke to, shared...