Singapore, 13 Feb. Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 3.6% year-on-year in 2022, slightly below the island authorities’ preliminary estimate of 3.8%, amid weaker-than-expected external demand.
Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) revealed on Monday that growth had slowed in the last quarter of 2022, to 2.1% year-on-year, compared to the previous cycle (July -september). it had rebounded 4%.
The fall in external demand in 2022 has led to a downward revision – since the preliminary calculation in November – of the growth of the Asian city-state, very dependent on exports, which will continue to affect the country this year, although amortized for the reopening of China.
Thus, the MTI today maintained the November forecast for GDP growth for 2023, established in a range between 0.5% and 2.5%.
Gabriel Lim, Secretary of Commerce and Industry, today highlighted at a press conference the opportunities offered by China’s reopening, which put the zero covid policy on the back burner in December, particularly in sectors services and tourism.
“At the same time, uncertainties in the global economy persist,” he added, referring to the war in Ukraine and the general rise in interest rates, among other issues.
Singapore, one of the countries with the highest GDP per capita in the world, is an industrialized exception in Southeast Asia, so its level of growth is much lower than that of neighboring developing countries, such as Malaysia, Vietnam or the Philippines whose GDP rebounded in 2022 by 8.7%, 8.02% and 7.6%, respectively.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in its January forecast for 2023 that Southeast Asia “will continue to be one of the fastest growing regions in the world”, predicting that in the second semester, conditions will be more favorable due to lower inflation and increased economic activity in China. EFE
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