Singapore's economic growth is forecast to have slowed sharply in the first quarter as the manufacturing sector faced headwinds from sluggish global demand, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
Gross domestic product probably grew 0.5 percent in January-March from the previous three months on an annualised and seasonally adjusted basis, according to the median forecast in the survey.
That would be well below the 4.9 percent quarter-on-quarter growth posted in the fourth quarter of 2014.
The poll of 17 economists also picked GDP to grow 1.8 percent from a year earlier, slowing from the 2.1 percent expansion seen in the October-December quarter.
Such a pace would be slightly below the government forecast for full-year GDP growth in 2015 of 2.0-4.0 percent.
The advance estimate of Singapore's first quarter GDP will be released on April 14, at 8 a.m. local time (0000 GMT). The city-state's central bank will also release its semi-annual monetary policy statement at the same time. "Manufacturing sector will be the main drag... I think a quarterly, year-on-year contraction in manufacturing is almost a given," said Irvin Seah, senior economist for DBS Bank.
Industrial production in January and February shrank on average by about 1.2 percent from a year earlier according to official data, while a survey of purchasing managers showed manufacturing activity shrank in March for a fourth straight month. Exports have also been weak.
DBS Bank's Seah added that GDP will probably avoid a quarter-on-quarter contraction, helped by growth in the services sector, likely underpinned by financial services.
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