Daily Briefing: Singapore economy gets temporary boost; CityDev eyes cheaper deals

And Apple Pay is now available to more Singaporeans.

Singapore’s economy performed better in the first quarter than the government had earlier estimated, led by a surge in manufacturing that may not be repeated as exports remain under pressure. Gross domestic product expanded an annualized 0.2 percent from the previous three months, the Ministry of Trade and Industry in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday. Read more here.

City Developments Ltd., Singapore’s second-largest developer, may seek to buy offices this year as rising interest rates makes such assets cheaper worldwide. “We are coming into a very good time for acquisitions,” Grant Kelley, chief executive officer of City Developments, said in an interview in Singapore. “The long-term trend line for assets for the next 12 to 24 months could be deflationary because I believe as interest rates go up fixed income will become more attractive and maybe liquidity will drain from real estate assets a little bit.” Find out more here.

Last month we reported that Apple Pay has launched in Singapore, but only for AMEX credit card cardholders. As of today, five major banks, POSB, DBS, OCBC, UOB and Standard Chartered have jumped on board the Apple Pay bandwagon. Other banks like Citibank, HSBC, ANZ and Maybank are still not on board with Apple Pay. Read more here.