SINGAPORE REVISES GDP GROWTH FORECAST AGAIN TO 2.5 PER CENT

SINGAPORE, Nov 21 (Bernama)-- Singapore, which has started to feel the brunt of the current global economic slowdown, has again revised downwards the current year's economic growth forecast and this time to around to 2.5 percent.

The forecast was earlier revised from four to five percent to about three
percent in October.

Next year's forecast will be even worse when the economy is expected to
contract further to around -1.0 to 2.0 per cent.

These latest figures were announced by Singapore's Ministry of Trade and
Industry (MTI) Friday.

MTI said Singapore's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted by 0.6 percent
in year-on-year terms in the third quarter of this year.

On an annualised quarter-on-quarter basis, growth declined by 6.8 percent,
compared to a fall of 5.3 percent in the second quarter, it said.

MTI said the biggest contraction came from the manufacturing sector, with
the decline led by the electronics and biomedical sciences (BMS)
segments.

Falling external demand and the relocation of some electronics production
companies to other countries contributed to the poor performance of the sector,
while the BMS segment continued to be dampened by the production of
pharmaceutical ingredients with lower value compared to a year ago, it
added.

MTI said the GDP growth forecast was moderated following the continued
deterioration of the global economy, especially the slowing down of external and
regional demand.

It said the plunge in stock markets worldwide since mid-September and
disruptions in the global credit markets had affected many sectors of the world
trade, causing economic growth in the developed economies to slow down, with
several countries already in recession.

MTI also said the economic downturn was expected to last for several
quarters and well into 2009 with Singapore's economy expected to face a
broad-based slowdown next year.