Singapore’s economy continued to grow at a healthy pace in the first quarter of 2011

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) released its flash estimates and said the economy expanded by 8.5 per cent compared to the first quarter of last year. On a quarterly basis, the economy grew by 23.5 per cent, a strong improvement from the 3.9 per cent growth in the previous quarter.

The manufacturing sector showed the strongest growth, registering an expansion by 13.9 per cent on year, was driven by the electronics and precision engineering clusters which benefited from a pick-up in business investment in the region.

The construction sector grew by 2.6 per cent, reversing the contraction of 2.0 per cent in the previous quarter, reflecting an increase in residential building activities.

The services industries also saw an increase in activities in the first quarter of 2011. Compared to a year ago, the services industries expanded by 7.2 per cent.

Growth driven by the financial services sector saw an increase in commercial bank lending activities.

In line with continued growth in global demand, trade-related services such as the wholesale and retail trade, and transport and storage sectors also expanded.