Singapore economy grows 4.1% in Q3, beating forecasts

Growth fuelled by manufacturing rebound, with sector expanding by 7.5%

- Claire Huang

A rebound in electronics helped Singapore's economy grow 4.1 per cent year on year in the third quarter of 2024, much faster than the 2.9 per cent growth in the previous quarter, according to official advance estimates.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected growth of 3.8 per cent in the July to September period.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the economy expanded by 2.1 per cent, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said on Oct 14. This is faster than the 0.4 per cent growth in the second quarter.

The growth acceleration came on the back of a manufacturing rebound.

The sector expanded by 7.5 per cent year on year in the third quarter, after contracting 1.1 per cent in the previous quarter. The growth was led by output expansions across all manufacturing clusters, except for biomedical manufacturing.

OCBC Bank chief economist Selena Ling said the sharp manufacturing rebound, after two consecutive quarters of contraction, was led by electronics.