On a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, the economy grew 1.7%, an expansion greater than the 1.3% in the third quarter..
For 2023, the economy grew by 1.2%, slower than the 3.6% growth in 2022. This was in line with forecasts by MTI, which expected the economy to grow “about 1%” in November.
In his New Year message on January 1, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said The country “avoided a recession” in 2023. Lee described the year as “challenging,” citing a “turbulent” international environment, such as the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as tensions between the United States and China.
He added that despite this, “families are still feeling the pressure of rising costs of living, even though inflation is gradually declining.”
Singapore narrowly avoided a technical recession in 2023 after recording 0.1% quarter-on-quarter growth in the second quarter, after a 0.3% contraction in the first quarter. A technical recession is usually defined as two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction.
Notably, Singapore’s manufacturing sector, which makes up about 20% of its economy and the country’s largest, expanded 3.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, reversing a 4.7% contraction in the previous quarter.
The manufacturing sector recorded successive year-on-year declines in the first three quarters of 2023, before turning around in the last quarter.
The ministry said, “The growth in the sector is due to production expansions in all groups, with the exception of the precision engineering group.”
In November, MTI expects Singapore’s GDP to expand by about 1% to 3% in 2024, adding that major global economies such as the United States are likely to slow in the first half of the year, before gradually rebounding in the second half of the year.