Singapore on Tuesday reported that its economy contracted more than initially expected and narrowed its economic forecast for the full year of 2020.
The Singapore economy contracted by 42.9% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the previous quarter, said the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The updated figure was worse than the official advance estimate released last month, and confirmed the Southeast Asian country had entered a technical recession. The estimate, computed largely from data in April and May, had shown the economy shrinking by 41.2% in the second quarter compared to the prior three months.
On a year-on-year basis, the country’s gross domestic product shrank by 13.2% in the quarter ended June 30, according to the ministry. That’s worse than the earlier estimate of a 12.6% year-over-year contraction and 0.3% on-year dip recorded in the first quarter. Large parts of the Singapore economy were shut in early April as the country entered a partial lockdown — which the government called a “circuit breaker” — to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Some of the restrictions have been eased starting early June, allowing most of the economy to reopen.
“The fall in GDP was due to the Circuit Breaker (CB) measures implemented from 7 April to 1 June 2020 to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Singapore, as well as weak external demand amidst a global economic downturn caused by the COVID19 pandemic,” the ministry said in a statement.
Covid-19 is the formal name of the coronavirus disease. In Singapore, there have been more than 55,000 confirmed infections and 27 deaths relating to the virus, according to the health ministry’s data. Most of those infected have recovered, with 5,656 cases still “active” as of Monday, said the health ministry.