Singapore: 2.8% growth in the Q4 of 2023

According to advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore's economy grew by 2.8% YoY in Q4 2023, marking the fastest rate of growth since Q3 2022 and a significant increase from the 1% expansion recorded in Q3. On a QoQ seasonally-adjusted basis, the economy expanded by 1.7%, surpassing the 1.3% growth in Q3. However, the economy grew at a slower pace of 1.2% for the year 2023, compared to the 3.6% growth in 2022, as forecasted by the MTI in November. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stated in his New Year's message on January 1 that the country managed to "avoid a recession" in 2023, despite facing a challenging year. Lee cited the troubled international environment, as contributing factors to the difficulties faced by Singapore. He acknowledged that households continued to feel the pressure of a higher cost of living, although inflation was gradually decreasing. Overall, Lee described the year 2023 as challenging for Singapore. Singapore managed to evade a technical recession in 2023, as it recorded a modest growth of 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, following a contraction of 0.3% in the first quarter. To be classified as a technical recession, there needs to be two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction. The manufacturing sector, which accounts for approximately 20% of the economy and is Singapore's largest sector, grew by 3.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, a reversal from the previous quarter's contraction of 4.7%.