The wholesale trade, finance and insurance, and manufacturing sectors are the largest contributors that push Singapore’s GDP in 2024 to increase by 4.4%, marking the fastest growth since 2021 and higher than a 1.8% expansion in 2023.
During 4Q24 alone, Singapore’s GDP rose 5% YoY, 0.3 percentage points higher than Reuters anticipated and 0.7 percentage points higher than the nation had anticipated in advance on January 2. However, this expansion is still 0.7 percentage points lower than the increase in the previous quarter.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong added that the retail trade sector, along with the food and beverage sector, saw contraction as people shifted their spending to overseas instead.
Singapore maintained its 2025 GDP growth estimation at 1%-3% as the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) reported that 2025 external demand remains largely stable, which is a result of easing economic growth of its key trading partners.
The ministry warned this uncertainty and its trajectory would depend on the US economy and policies issued by the new administration. There is also speculation that China’s GDP growth will be moderate due to the slow investment and export, caused by tariff hikes and industrial overcapacity.
MTI also forecasts that Singapore will have more manufacturing and trade-related services sectors, especially for electronics, in 2025. This expansion is to support the strong demand for semiconductor chips in the PC, smartphones, and data centres.
Information, communications, finance, and insurance sectors are also expected to grow, except for consumer-facing sectors, such as retail trade and food and beverage. The ministry speculated that the growth in this sector will remain slow due to the same reason the prime minister had stated — overseas spending.