While the export-reliant Singapore economy has seen a more serious decline in the second half of 2019, the country believes there’ll be growth between 0% and 1% for the year.
According to a Bloomberg report, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in an interview that the current economic cycle should bottom out toward the end of year and into next year.
The prediction is based on the assumption that the current decline will be largely confined in the trade and manufacturing sectors, the report quoted the MAS as saying.
MAS’s managing director Ravi Menon said in an interview with Bloomberg that the slump in trade and manufacturing hasn’t spread to other sectors but he doesn’t rule out the possibility of spillover in the future.
In response to the slowing economy, the MAS recently eased the local currency’s rate of appreciation for the first time in more than three years.
Singapore’s Q2 GDP fell 3.3% quarter-on-quarter while exports in September dropped for the seventh straight month as electronics shipments continued to slide.
The country would enter a technical recession if it reports a drop in GDP for Q3.
