Private-sector analysts have shaved their growth forecast for Singapore for 2022, with the sharper-than-expected rise in inflation and slower economic activity in China among the downside risks for the Southeast Asian nation's economy, according a quarterly survey released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Economic growth is predicted to come in at 3.8 percent for the full year, lower than the 4 percent growth tipped in the previous survey released in March. The gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for 2023 remains unchanged at 3 percent.
Growth for the second quarter of this year is forecast at 4.8 percent, following the 3.7 percent expansion in the first quarter.
In the latest MAS survey, the analysts raised their inflation forecasts for this year.
Overall inflation for the whole of 2022 is now expected to hit 5 percent, up from 3.6 percent in the previous survey.
The forecast for core inflation, which excludes private transport and accommodation costs, was raised to 3.4 percent, from 2.7 percent previously.
The economists expect both overall and core inflation to ease next year. Overall inflation is forecast at 3 percent in 2023, while core inflation is expected to come down to 2.8 percent.
Late last month, the Ministry of Trade and Industry warned that growth would likely come in at the lower half of its 3 percent to 5 percent forecast range as the war in Ukraine disrupts the global supply of energy, food and other commodities, in turn worsening global inflationary pressures./.