Posted on 13 Feb 2014
Singapore's economy likely expanded at a faster year-on-year pace in the fourth quarter of 2013 than was earlier estimated, helped by a surge in manufacturing output late last year.
According to the median forecast of 13 economists polled by Reuters, gross domestic product (GDP) in Oct-Dec likely grew 5.3% from a year earlier, faster than the advance estimate of 4.4% released in January.
The poll also showed that Singapore's fourth-quarter GDP is likely to have shrunk by 0.1% compared to the third quarter on a seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, a much smaller decline than the 2.7% contraction in the advance estimate.
The data will be released on Thursday, Feb. 20.
Expectations for an upward revision to fourth-quarter GDP have grown after Singapore reported a surprise 6.2% jump in December manufacturing output from a year earlier, and also revised up its figures for November output.
The expected upward revision to fourth-quarter economic growth is unlikely to have any direct impact on monetary policy, said Song Seng Wun, an economist for CIMB, adding that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will probably maintain its current policy stance at a policy review due in April.
"I think their main focus still remains on the tightening labour market, on inflation," he said, adding that the economy's growth momentum is probably within the comfort zone of the MAS, Singapore's central bank.
At its previous policy decision in October, the MAS stuck to its stance of allowing a "modest and gradual" appreciation of the Singapore dollar to curb inflationary pressures. Singapore conducts monetary policy by managing the rise or fall of the local dollar against the currencies of its main trading partners.
