Singapore's economy is expected to shrink by 6 percent to 9 percent this year on the back of more job losses and a sharp fall in domestic economic output over the past two quarters, the government said on Apr. 14.
The new forecast is significantly lower than the previous projected contraction of between two percent and five percent, and follows fresh data showing a sharp deceleration in the first quarter, said Channel News Asia.
It quoted preliminary data released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) as showing that gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 11.5 percent in the first quarter year-on-year, far worse than the 4.2 percent contraction in the preceding quarter.
The revised GDP forecast was made after the trade-dependent city state's key exports, known as non-oil domestic exports (NODX), fell by an estimated 17 percent in March from a year ago, according to the news network.