Singapore economy stalls as manufacturing slumps

SINGAPORE — Singapore’s economy stalled in the second quarter as manufacturing slumped amid weaker global demand for the city-state’s exports, the government said Thursday.

Gross domestic product grew 0.5 percent in the April to June period from a year earlier, the Trade and Industry Ministry said in a statement. Industrial production slid 5.5 percent while services expanded 3.3 percent, the ministry said.

Singapore enjoyed record economic growth last year as the global economy recovered and two new casino-resorts boosted tourist arrivals. GDP surged 14.5 percent in 2010, and the government in May said it expected growth of up to 7 percent this year after a 9.3 percent expansion in the first quarter.

But growth petered out last quarter as production of electronics and pharmaseuticals dropped, the ministry said.

The economy contracted a seasonally adjusted, annualized 7.8 percent from the previous quarter while manufacturing plunged 23 percent from the January to March period.

“This largely reflected a decline in the biomedical manufacturing cluster,” the ministry said. “Output in the electronics cluster also fell, partly due to an easing in global demand for semiconductor chips.”

The second quarter economic data is preliminary and is compiled mostly from April and May statistics, said the ministry, which is scheduled to release more complete figures next month.