SINGAPORE – Singapore’s gross domestic product traveled 3.8% in the fourth October-December from a year earlier, according to preliminary data released Monday, marking its fourth straight quarterly decline among COVID-19 pandemics.
This will bring the city state’s full-year shortfall for 2020 to 5.8%, compared to 0.7% growth in 2019. This is the worst result since independence in 1965, lower than the 2.2% decline experienced in recorded for 1998 during the Asian financial crisis.
Data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry show that the services sector traveled 6.8% in the fourth quarter, while the manufacturing sector grew 9.5% and construction rose 28.5%.
The growth of the manufacturing sector was “largely supported by product expansion in the electronic collections, biomedical manufacturing and precision engineering,” the ministry said in a statement.
As a small country that relies heavily on external demand, Singapore has been hit hard by the pandemic. Its GDP fell 0.2% in the first quarter, before declining 13.4% in the second term and 5.6% in the third.
Now Singapore hopes to turn a corner in 2021.
Thanks to a range of health measures, the coronavirus is largely controlled at home, with daily issues around 10-20 on most days. On December 28, the government reduced restrictions, allowing social gatherings of up to eight people, instead of just five. And on Dec. 30, they launched a vaccination campaign, starting with health care workers.
In addition to distributing vaccines, Singapore hopes to stimulate the economy through initiatives such as quarantine “travel bubbles” in addition to what they call “business travel exchanges” for international meetings in person.
In November, the government was forecasting a growth rate of 4% to 6% for 2021. A December study by the Japan Center for Economic Research and Nikkei identified 4.5% growth in Singapore for the year.
The next focus will be on the fiscal support measures included in the 2021 draft budget, which is expected in February.
“Following our worst decline from independence, we look forward to a reversal in 2021, although the recovery will be uneven, and activity is likely to remain below levels before -COVID-19 for a while, ”Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a New Year’s message.