Singapore economy News

Singapore`s core inflation gauge rose 0.5 percent in February from a year earlier, the fastest pace in five months, on the back of higher food prices, data showed on Wednesday.

Singapore`s economy shrank in the second quarter of the year, official data showed Tuesday, as slowing demand from key export markets China and Europe hit manufacturing.

The result compared with a 0.7 percent contraction forecast in a Reuters poll, and a 9.7 percent drop in February, and suggested global demand may be on the mend.

Singapore's economy grew more strongly than initially estimated in the final quarter of last year as manufacturing improved, but the country's outlook for this year remained modest at 2.0 to 4.0 per cent in the face of an uneven global recovery.

The IMF said Singapore`s plans to restructure its economy by trying to boost productivity and curb use of cheap foreign labour could eventually set the stage for a long period of sustainable growth.