More Gloomy Outlook

Source : The Straits Times, Dec 10, 2008

WITH just weeks left till the end of the year, economists are predicting that the Singapore economy will fare worse than the Government has forecast.

A Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) poll of 17 economists and analysts found that they expect economic growth to ring in at only 2.2 per cent this year, below the official tip of 2.5 per cent.

This is significantly bleaker than the 4.2 per cent growth they predicted in a similar MAS survey just three months ago. No sector has been spared the pessimism, although manufacturing and trade are the only segments that economists believe will go into negative territory this year.