The state economy is projected to grow between 3.5 per cent and 4 per cent this year, said Second Minister of Finance, Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh.
“I am confident that the GDP growth ranging from 4 per cent to 4.5 per cent forecast for next year is achievable in line with the broad based growth across the industries and higher external demand,” he said when delivering his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly sitting here on Thursday.
Touching on the national economy, he said that it was projected to achieve a higher growth ranging from 5.2 per cent to 5.7 per cent next year compared to the projected growth ranging from 4.3 per cent to 4.8 per cent this year. “The growth would be supported mainly by stronger domestic demand from the private sector expenditure and improvement in export demand. “On the supply note, growth continued to expand and supported by higher contribution from services and manufacturing sectors.
“GDP for next year is projected to grow in the range of 5 per cent to 5.5 per cent, to be driven by demand in both domestic and external sectors,” he said. Wong further elaborated that the global upswing in economic activity is strengthening with global growth projected to rise to 3.6 per cent in 2017 and 3.7 per cent in 2018.
“The broad-based upward revisions in the euro area, Japan, emerging Asia, emerging Europe, and Russia is anticipated to be more than offsetting the downward revisions for the United States and the United Kingdom,” he said.
