* Advance estimates

1. The Singapore economy continued to grow at a healthy pace. Advance estimates1 show that real gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 6.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis, real GDP grew by 7.2 per cent, following a 7.9 per cent gain in the last quarter of 2006.
   
2. The manufacturing sector is estimated to have grown at a slower pace of 6.1 per cent in the first quarter, due partly to weaker growth in the biomedical manufacturing cluster. On the other hand, the transport engineering cluster continued to see strong expansion during the quarter. Both the electronics and chemicals clusters also picked up from a weak performance in the preceding quarter.
   
3. The construction sector grew faster in the first quarter. The sector is estimated to have grown by 7.0 per cent, up from a 4.7 per cent gain in previous quarter.
   
4. Growth of the services producing industries is estimated to have eased slightly to 6.1 per cent in the first quarter. The healthy growth was led by financial services and wholesale and retail trade.
   
5. The preliminary GDP estimates for the first quarter of 2007, including sectoral performances, sources of growth, inflation, employment and productivity, will be released in May 2007 in the Economic Survey of Singapore.
   
   MINISTRY OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY
   10 April 2007
   

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   1The advance GDP estimates for first quarter 2007 are computed largely from the first two months’ data (i.e. January and February 2007). They are intended as an early indication of the GDP growth in the quarter, and are subject to revision when more comprehensive data becomes available.
   
   

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