The economy of Singapore rose for the second quarter as it narrowly missed the recession as the engineering industries remained strong with high demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The economy rose to 0.4 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter and based on seasonally adjusted basis according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. It dropped to 1.9 percent in Q1 following the first revision in the first quarter and further declined to the former assumption of a 1.3 percent contraction. Despite the median forecast poll in Q2 declined by 1.1 percent, it is still on track to the overall forecast for the city-state progress. The Gross Domestic Product rose 2.5 percent in the second quarter compared last year which was kept the same even after revisions and lower than the 2.8 percent growth. An economist described this as “softer than expected” since the construction has been weak and a slight easing from the manufacturing sector could offset services. At the same time, analysts are skeptical on the country’s sustained growth being electronic dependent and expansion of services may countervail any moderation.
