Singapore's economy posts strong 7.8 percent growth
Singapore's economy posts strong 7.8 percent growth
SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore's economy expanded strongly by 7.8 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 1997 amid a recovery in the manufacturing sector, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said yesterday.
"Manufacturing is recovering from the slowdown. All other sectors did well," Goh said in a message to mark Singapore's 32 years of independence on Saturday.
He said the government was revising upwards its full-year growth forecast to between six and seven percent.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry had earlier forecast that 1997 growth would be between five and seven percent.
Due to a global electronics slowdown, Singapore's economic growth shrank to seven percent last year from 8.8 percent in 1995 and more than 10 percent in the previous two years.
Electronics is the lynchpin of the city state's manufacturing sector. It accounts for half of the manufacturing output of Singapore, the world's largest producer of computer disk drives and sound cards.
The economy had grown by a sluggish 3.8 percent in the first half of 1997 when the key manufacturing sector posted its biggest decline in 12 years due to sluggish electronics demand.
Goh said with the good second quarter result, Singapore's trade-driven economy had expanded by 5.9 percent in the first half of 1997.
Singapore also attracted S$4.8 billion (US$3.42 billion) of manufacturing investments in the first half of this year, he said.
Goh, 56, who led the People's Action Party to a sweeping victory in January 2 polls, urged his people to work with the government to make Singapore a world-class city "offering a high quality of life, interesting and exciting yet peaceful and safe.
"Every Singaporean has a part in building this best home. I invite every citizen to work with me and my team to shape our common future," he said.
Goh stressed the need for upgrading skills to reap opportunities arising from globalization and technology.
Thirty-two years after gaining independence from Malaysia, Singapore has transformed itself from a tropical backwater to a bustling financial capital and nerve center for multinational corporations.
Singapore's per capita income has overtaken those of industrial giants Germany and the United States, exceeding 30,000 US dollars for the first time last year. Singapore is ranked the world's most competitive country.