SINGAPORE, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's economy is predicted to expand by 5.5 percent this year, slightly lower than the previous survey, the country's de facto central bank said on Monday.

    The forecast was a slight downgrade from the 5.6 percent seen in the last Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) survey of economists in March.

    The Singapore government forecast its whole-year economy to grow by between 4 percent and 6 percent.

    Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.7 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period of last year, more slowly than estimated as demand weakened because of a slowdown in the United States and other key markets, the government said.

    The survey said the forecast for second-quarter growth is 4.7 percent, up from 4.4 percent reported in the previous survey.

    Inflation is expected to rise further this year, with the mean projection coming in at 6 percent, compared with the 5 percent three months ago.

    More than half of the 21 respondents of the survey believe that inflation will fall within a range of 6 to 6.5 percent this year. For the second quarter, inflation is expected to come in at 7.5 percent.

    Economists also raised their forecast for Singapore's jobless rate to 2.2 percent, up slightly from the 2 percent in the March survey.