SINGAPORE — Singapore’s economy grew at a slower pace in the fourth quarter of 2022, mainly due to a contraction in the manufacturing sector.
Gross domestic product expanded 2.2% in the quarter ended December from a year earlier, according to advance estimates released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Tuesday. That was slower than the 4.2% growth in the third quarter, but beat the 2.05% growth expected by four economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
For the whole of 2022, Singapore’s economy grew 3.8% compared with the 7.6% expansion in 2021.
Manufacturing contracted 3.0% in the fourth quarter, reversing from the 1.4% expansion in the prior quarter. This was due to output contraction in the electronics, chemicals and biomedical manufacturing clusters, which outweighed output expansion in the precision engineering, transport engineering and general manufacturing clusters, the MTI said.
Construction grew 10.4%, accelerating from the 7.8% expansion in the third quarter.
Goods-producing industries shrank 1.3%, reversing from the 2.1% expansion in the prior quarter, while services-producing industries expanded 4.1%, slowing from the 5.8% growth in the third quarter.
Singapore’s GDP grew 0.2% in the fourth quarter on a quarter-over-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the data showed, compared with the 1.1% expansion in the third quarter.
