SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s economy grew 14.3% in the second quarter, its fastest pace in just over a decade, preliminary official data showed on Wednesday, jumping from last year’s coronavirus-induced plunge when the country was under lockdown measures.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected an increase of 14.2% year-on-year for the second quarter.
In absolute terms, gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2021 remained 0.9% below its pre-pandemic level in the second quarter of 2019, the ministry of trade and industry said in a statement.
GDP had fallen a record 13.3% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2020. The country was under a lockdown for most of that period to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the economy contracted 2% in the second quarter of 2021, a reversal from the 3.1% growth in the preceding quarter.
Singapore had implemented tougher rules on public gatherings in May this year after a spike in COVID-19 cases. It has been loosening them over the last few weeks as vaccination picks up.
The Singapore government expects GDP to expand 4% to 6% this year, although growth could exceed the upper end of that forecast. The bellwether economy had posted its worst recession last year.
(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore; Editing by Stephen Coates)
