Economists upgrade GDP estimates after Singapore’s manufacturing output surprises with 16.1% surge in September

[SINGAPORE] Several private-sector economists have raised their full-year gross domestic product growth forecasts for 2025, after the latest industrial production (IP) print was much better than anticipated.

Factory output returned to expansion territory with a 16.1 per cent year-on-year surge in September, a reversal from August’s revised 9 per cent drop, data from the Economic Development Board showed on Friday (Oct 24). In August, the IP print ended a 13-month expansion streak.

The latest print exceeded economists’ expectations. In a Bloomberg poll, private-sector economists’ median estimate had been a mere 0.5 per cent rise.