The possibility of the lowered projection was already flagged earlier by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), which on Aug 11 announced that GDP for the 2Q was up 0.5% y-o-y, just a tad better than 0.4% growth eked out in the previous quarter.
With better visibility that external demand will remain weak towards the end of the year, Singapore has narrowed its 2023 GDP growth projection range to 0.5 to 1.5%, from the earlier 0.5 to 2.5%.
"Apart from the expected slowdown in Singapore’s key final demand markets, the global electronics downturn is also likely to be protracted, with a gradual recovery expected towards the end of the year at the earliest," says Gabriel Lim, MTI's permanent secretary.
