Singapore growth momentum slows
SINGAPORE -- Singapore's economy has expanded for a second straight quarter, official data shows, but the momentum is slowing.
Gross domestic product -- the total value of all goods and services -- grew at an annualized rate of 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter.
Singapore's growth is being underpinned by strong factory production of computer microchips, disk drives and pharmaceuticals.
Preliminary figures released Friday show the island state's $89 billion economy grew 0.8 percent in 2003.
That made it the slowest among Asia's major economies and reflects the fallout from a SARS outbreak in March that emptied nine out of every 10 hotel rooms, dried up tourism, and slowed factory orders.
Steve Brice, chief economist for Standard Chartered in Singapore, told CNN Friday that the fourth quarter figure was weaker than expected, but the economy would likely see an improvement in 2004.
He said domestic demand was still "very stagnant", and weakness in the property sector was having an impact on construction.
Most economists had expected a figure of above 11 percent.
The estimate of the fourth quarter was below the third quarter's brisk 17.3 percent expansion as the economy rebounded from a SARS-induced slump.
"It is still a reasonably good performance. The third and fourth quarters were boosted by pent-up demand triggered by the end of SARS and, as is typical, it eases off after a while," Nizam Idris, economist at Ideaglobal.com, told Reuters news agency.
