Singapore's GDP grew by 2.9% in Q2 '24, extending the 3% growth recorded in Q1

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the economy expanded by 0.4% in Q2 2024, which was slightly faster than the 0.3% expansion in Q1 2024.

⁠Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry Singapore (MTI) announced on 12 July 2024 (Friday), that the country's overall gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to drop from 3.0% in Q1 2024 to 2.9% in Q2 2024. 

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the economy expanded by 0.4% in Q2 2024, which was slightly faster than the 0.3% expansion in Q1 2024. 

Looking at the data by industry,

Goods producing industries

The manufacturing sector grew from 1.7% in Q1 2024 to 0.5% in Q2 2024. 

Growth in the sector was supported by output expansions across all manufacturing clusters, except for the biomedical manufacturing and precision engineering clusters. 

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the sector expanded by 0.6%, a turnaround from the 5.3% contraction in Q1 2024.

In the second quarter, the construction sector expanded by 4.3% year-on-year, building on the 4.1% growth from the previous quarter. This growth was driven by increased public sector construction output. 

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, the sector grew by 2.4%, reversing the 1.9% contraction seen in the previous quarter.

Services producing industries

In Q2 2024, the wholesale & retail trade and transportation & storage sectors collectively grew by 2.5% year-on-year, a slowdown from the 3.9% growth observed in the previous quarter.

During the quarter, all sectors in the group, except for retail trade, experienced growth.

Transportation & storage benefited from water & air transport, while wholesale trade saw growth in machinery, equipment & supplies, and other segments. 

However, retail trade contracted due to reduced sales volumes in apparel & footwear, watches & jewellery, and optical goods & books. 

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, the group expanded by 0.7%, slower than the 2.7% growth in the first quarter. 

The group of sectors comprising the information & communications, finance & insurance and professional services sectors grew by 5.6% year-on-year in Q2 2024, extending the 5.7% growth in the previous quarter. Looking at the bigger picture, all sectors in the group grew during the quarter.

• The information & communications sector benefited from high demand for IT and digital solutions, while the professional services sector saw growth driven by head offices & business representative offices.
• Additionally, the finance & insurance sector expanded primarily due to activities auxiliary to financial services, banking, and fund management.

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, these sectors collectively grew by 1.4%, reversing the 2.8% contraction in the previous quarter.

In the second quarter, the remaining services sectors—accommodation & food services, real estate, administrative & support services, and other services—grew by 1.9% year-on-year, slower than the 3.0% in Q1 2024.

Among these sectors, all except real estate and food services expanded, with accommodation and administrative & support services benefitting from a recovery in international visitor arrivals.

However, on a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, these sectors collectively shrank by 0.5%, marking a pullback from the 2.3% growth seen in Q1 2024.

The preliminary GDP estimates for the second quarter of 2024, including performance by sectors, sources of growth, inflation, employment and productivity, will be released in the Economic Survey of Singapore in August 2024.

READ MORE: Singapore maintains GDP growth forecast for 2024 at 1-3%