Computer and medical demand drives Singapore's May manufacturing jump


SG Electronics 14918305 (ST FILE)
SINGAPORE, June 27 (dpa): Singapore's manufacturing output jumped by 7.2 per cent in May compared to the previous month, according to official data released on Friday, in large part due to demand for medical and computer equipment.

The Economic Development Board (EDB) said local output has been spurred by "higher export demand for medical devices" and "strong capital investment in the global semiconductor industry."

US-based GlobalFoundries, a computer chip and semiconductor producer, this week said it would pump 4 billion dollars into a new Singapore factory.

Singapore's manufacturing output was up 30 per cent in May measured against the same month last year, when the city-state was in the middle of its sole pandemic lockdown.

Overseas demand for Singapore's manufacturing output is helping its economy rebound after a record 5.4 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) contraction last year.

GDP in what is the wealthiest economy, measured per-capita, in the ten-country Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean), grew by more than 3 per cent in the first quarter of 2021, according to official estimates published in May.

The Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) this week said Singapore's economy should grow by more than 6 per cent this year, echoing economists' predictions published last week by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the de facto central bank. - dpa

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