Singapore has substantially cut its growth forecast for 2019, blaming US-China trade tensions, a cooling global economy and a downturn in its important electronics industry.
On Tuesday morning, the Southeast Asian island state’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said that growth for the full year would come in at between 0 per cent and 1 per cent, down from its most recent forecast in May that the economy would grow between 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent. The Ministry said it anticipated that final 2019 growth would come in at the midpoint of the new range.
“The growth prospects of key emerging markets and developing economies such as [in Southeast Asia] and China have worsened, partly due to the escalation in the US-China trade conflict in recent months,” the ministry said in the statement.