Singapore's economy grew by 8.5 percent year on year in the first quarter, the country's Ministry of Trade and Industry said Thursday.
On a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter annualized basis, the growth was estimated at 23.5 percent, which the ministry said was "a strong improvement" from 3.9 percent in the previous quarter.
The growth was mainly attributed to the expansion of the manufacturing sector, which expanded by a strong 29.7 percent year on year. Construction expanded by 6.1 percent and services sector 10.5 percent.
The growth in manufacturing "was driven by the electronics and precision engineering clusters, which benefited from a pick-up in the business investment in the region," the ministry said.