Singapore GDP growth slips to 1.6% yoy

But economic momentum could be picking up with the qoq growth rising to 9.9% from last quarter's 2.5% contraction.

GDP growth in 1Q12 slowed down to 1.6% from 3.6% in the last quarter, as manufacturing contracted 2% yoy after expanding in the past two quarters. Construction and services producing industries nudged up higher, though, growing respectively to 6.2% and 2.9% from year-ago levels.

Quarter-on-quarter, all three sectors grew though: Manufacturing (14.7% from -11.1%), construction (24.6% from -2.2%) and sevices producing industries (6.9% from 1.7%), which the government points to as a sign of improving growth trajectory.

Here's more from the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry:

The Singapore economy registered modest growth in the first quarter of 2012. Based on advance estimates, the economy grew by 1.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis, compared to 3.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

Nevertheless, the growth momentum has picked up. On a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter annualised basis, the economy grew by 9.9 per cent, a reversal from the contraction of 2.5 per cent in the previous quarter.

The improved growth momentum in the first quarter was largely due to a sequential upturn in the manufacturing sector. The manufacturing sector posted a healthy sequential expansion of 14.7 per cent, compared to the 11.1 per cent contraction in the preceding quarter. This turnaround was supported by higher levels of output in the electronics and precision engineering clusters compared to the preceding quarter. On a year-on-year basis, however, the manufacturing sector contracted by 2.0 per cent due to a high base in the first quarter of 2011.

The construction sector grew by 6.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis, compared to 2.9 per cent in the preceding quarter. On a sequential basis, the construction sector surged 24.6 per cent, an improvement from the contraction of 2.2 per cent in the preceding quarter. This was primarily due to a pick-up in residential construction activities.

Growth in the services producing industries remained modest, at 2.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis, following the 2.1 per cent growth in the previous quarter. On a sequential basis, the services producing industries grew by an annualised rate of 6.9 per cent, up from 1.7 per cent in the preceding quarter. The pick-up in growth momentum was supported by increased stock market trading activities in the finance and insurance sector, as well as real estate activities in the business services sector. Tourism-related sectors also expanded, buoyed by continued growth in visitor arrivals. MTI will release the preliminary GDP estimates for the first quarter in May 2012, including performance by sectors, sources of growth, inflation, employment and productivity, in its Economic Survey of Singapore.