SINGAPORE, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry announced on Friday the country's economy expanded 2.9 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2017, making the economic growth for the first half to 2.7 percent.
The growth is faster than the former expected 2.5 percent and also higher than that of 2.5 percent for the preceding quarter, according to the Economic Survey released by the ministry.
The ministry also narrowed its forecast for economic growth for the whole year of 2017 to between 2 and 3 percent, from an earlier estimate of between 1 and 3 percent.
The ministry said the manufacturing sector led the economic growth in the second quarter, as it grew at a robust pace of 8.1 percent year on year in the period, following the 8.5 percent growth in the previous quarter.
Growth during the quarter was primarily supported by the electronics and precision engineering clusters, which expanded on the back of strong global demand for semiconductors and semiconductor-related equipment. On the other hand, the biomedical manufacturing, general manufacturing and transport engineering clusters saw a decline in output.
