SINGAPORE, June 9 — Singapore’s economy is expected to grow nine per cent in 2010 from a year earlier, at the upper end of the official forecast, while the Singapore dollar is forecast to strengthen to 1.356 against the US dollar by the end of the year, a central bank survey showed.
The government expects the economy to grow between seven and nine per cent in 2010 after it contracted 1.3 per cent last year.
Gross domestic product is expected to jump 9.4 per cent in the second quarter of 2010 from a year earlier, after expanding 15.5 per cent in the first quarter, according to a median forecast in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s survey of 19 private economists.
The currency forecast translates into an appreciation of 3.35 per cent from 1.403 to the US dollar at the end of 2009.
Non-oil domestic exports are expected to soar 17.8 per cent in 2010, compared to a contraction of 10.6 per cent in 2009, the survey said.
Annual inflation for 2010 is forecast to accelerate to a median 2.8 per cent from last year’s 0.6 per cent, said the survey, which does not represent the bank’s own views or forecasts. — Reuters
