Economists trim GDP forecasts as key growth pillars stumble

The economy will grow 1.9% in 2016.

Economists expect Singapore's gross domestic product (GP) to grow by 1.9% in 2016, according to the latest Survey of Professional Forecasters by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

This is down from the previous forecast of 2.2%. In particular, economists trimmed their growth forecasts for the manufacturing and finance & insurance sectors.

Experts also lowered their expectations for Singapore's non-oil domestic exports (NODX), from 1.5% in the December survey to just 0.2% in the latest survey.
For the first quarter, the respondents expect GDP to grow by 1.6%.

The median CPI inflation forecast for 2016 fell to −0.2% in the latest survey, from the 0.5% reported in the December survey. The respondents also expect MAS Core Inflation to be 0.8%, slightly below the 1.0% projected in the previous survey. 

For the first quarter, CPI All-Items inflation is expected to come in at −0.7%. As for the labour market, the respondents continue to forecast the unemployment rate to be 2.1% by year-end.