Economists have raised their forecasts for Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2017, according to a survey by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) unveiled on Wednesday.
The median forecast of 23 economists surveyed in mid-February pointed to a 2.3% GDP growth this year. This is an improvement from the 1.5% growth forecasted in the previous MAS survey published in December.
Singapore’s economy recorded GDP growth of 2.0% in 2016.
In particular, economists are now more bullish on growth in the manufacturing sector and non-oil domestic exports.
The manufacturing sector is expected to expand by 4.5% in 2017, up from 1.1% in the previous survey. Economists now expect non-oil domestic exports to grow by 6.1% in 2017, up from the previous median forecast of 0.3% growth.
In addition, economists in the latest survey say MAS’ core inflation gauge is likely to rise 1.5% in 2017, up from the previous median forecast of 1.3%.
Meanwhile, median forecast for all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in 2017 was unchanged at 1.0%.
The official advance estimate for first-quarter GDP is expected to be released in April.
This article first appeared in The Edge Singapore Market Report.
