According to the latest news, Singapore posted its strongest economic growth in 11 years in the second quarter of 2021. As we know, the Southeast Asian country witnessed its worst economic decline a year ago due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Estimates by the Ministry of Trade and Industry show that the country’s economy increased by 14.3% in the second quarter compared with the same period a year ago. Remarkably, it slightly surpassed the analysts’ forecast of a 14.2% year-on-year increase.
On Wednesday, the ministry announced that the strong growth was largely due to the low base in the second quarter of 2020. As we know, in Q2 of 2020, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 13.3% due to the Circuit Breaker measures implemented from 7 April to 1 June 2020
Circuit breaker (CB) refers to the partial lockdown implemented in the Southeast Asian country. As we know, large parts of the economy were shut to slow the spread of the COVID-19.
The whole world was affected by the Covid pandemic, and Singapore was no exception. Although it could cope with the strong waves of COVID-19, the country witnessed a resurgence in infections rates this year. Remarkably, that prompted the government to strengthen social-distancing measures in May.
However, the government started to gradually ease those restrictions in June as the number of coronavirus cases declines.
According to the ministry, the economy reduced by 2% compared with the previous quarter. It also added that GDP in the April-to-June period with year remained 0.9% below the second quarter of 2019 before the pandemic hit the world.
The performance of the different sectors in Q2
Let’s see the performance of the different sectors in the second quarter of the year.
Data shows that Goods-producing industries increased by 22.2% year on year. However, they dropped by 2.5% compared with the first quarter of 2021.
Meanwhile, services industries surged 9.8% compared with the same period a year ago. Still, it dropped by 1% compared with Q1.
The key manufacturing sector increased by 18.5% compared with the previous year. However, it reduced by 1.8% from the first quarter.
According to the health ministry data, since the beginning of the last year, the Southeast Asian country has confirmed over 62,700 cases of the COVID-19 and 36 deaths.
It’s also essential to note that Singapore has one of the highest vaccination rates globally. Remarkably, more than 70% of its about 5.69 million population have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, more than 41% have been fully vaccinated.
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