Maybank lifts Singapore GDP forecast on manufacturing growth

AI-related demand continued to support electronics and precision engineering.

Maybank Research upgraded its forecast for Singapore’s economic growth in 2026 to 4.6%, citing strong artificial intelligence-related demand that continued to support the manufacturing sector.

Singapore’s manufacturing output rose 13% YoY in May, easing from a revised 16.5% increase in April but remaining in double-digit territory. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, output declined by 0.7%.

Electronics remained the main driver, with output rising 35.8% YoY. Semiconductor production increased by 37%, supported by demand for memory chips, servers and other AI-related products.

Precision engineering output grew 32.2%, accelerating from 16.4% in April. The machinery and systems segment expanded by 38.8% amid higher production of semiconductor equipment.

However, growth was uneven across the manufacturing sector. Biomedical manufacturing declined by 24.2%, whilst chemicals output fell 11.5% and transport engineering contracted by 5%.

General manufacturing output grew by a more modest 1.8%, reflecting weaker printing activity and slower expansion in food, beverages and tobacco.

Meanwhile, real non-oil domestic exports increased by 31.8% in May, indicating continued strength in electronics-related external demand.

A NOTE FROM SINGAPORE BUSINESS REVIEW

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia