IANS | 11 Aug, 2012
Singapore's economy shrank by 0.7 percent on quarter in the second quarter, reversing the 9.5 percent growth in the previous quarter, said trade and industry ministry Friday.
On a year-on-year basis, the economy expanded by 2.0 percent, compared to 1.5 percent in Q1, reported Xinhua.
The quarter-on-quarter contraction was mainly due to "the decline in externally-oriented sectors such as electronics manufacturing, as well as wholesale trade and tourism-related services", the ministry said in a statement.
In particular, the manufacturing sector contracted by 0.5 percent on quarter, reversing the 20.8 percent expansion in last quarter. Growth in the electronics cluster remained weak, while the transport engineering and biomedical manufacturing clusters provided growth support, the ministry added.
The wholesale and retail trade sector contracted by an annualized rate of 0.4 percent on quarter, mainly due to the deterioration in the wholesale trade segment.
