JC SiLent:You cant be that far away from me ; if we're looking on the same side of the moon
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
17 May 2005 The Business Times
The Spore govt on Tues cut its 2005 gross domestic pdt growth forecast fr 3.0-5.0% to 2.5-4.5% aft a slower-than-expected performance in the 1st quarter.
Figures released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed GDP in the Mar quarter grew 2.5% fr a yr ago, slower than the 6.5% expansion registered in the Dec quarter.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP in the 3 mths to Mar shrank 5.5% compared with a 7.9% expansion in the Dec quarter, the ministry said.
"In view of the 1st quarter's weaker-than-expected economic performance, it would be unrealistic to maintain the official forecast range of 3.0-5.0%," Friedrich Wu, director of the ministry's economics division, said at a media briefing.
"Such a growth rate would be difficult to achieve esp in the 2nd quarter when yr-on-yr growth must be compared with a very high base of 12.3% in the 2nd quarter of last yr."
Mr Wu said, however, it was highly unlikely the economy would contract on a quarterly basis again in the current quarter. A technical recession is determined by two straight quarters of negative growth on a quarterly basis.
A sharp moderation in manufacturing activity, the lynchpin of the Spore economy, was the major factor behind the slower economic activity in the March quarter.
Manufacturing, which acc for a quarter of the economy, grew 3.1% in the 1st quarter fr a yr earlier, little changed fr the 3% initial estimate. It slowed fr a 14% expansion in the 4th quarter.
Svs which includes trade, hotels and banking rose 3.5% fr a yr earlier in the 1st quarter, unchanged fr the initial est. Svs had expanded 4.8% in the 4th quarter.
Construction contracted 7.3% fr a yr earlier, falling for the 15th quarter in 16. The govt had initially est a 6.5% decline.
http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/pdf/mti-170505.pdf
& 11:55 pm