Singapore’s Economic Outlook: Strong 2024 Finish and a Cautious 2025 Ahead
- simpleisgd
- Feb 14
- 1 min read
Singapore's economy demonstrated resilience in 2024, with strong growth in the fourth quarter leading to an upward revision of full-year GDP performance. Despite challenges in some sectors, such as consumer-facing services, the nation managed to weather global trade uncertainties and internal pressures. As we look toward 2025, Singapore faces a mixed outlook—while it continues to recover from a trade downturn, it must navigate elevated cost-of-living concerns and potential risks from external factors.
Key Statistics:
4Q24 GDP Performance: Revised growth up from 0.1% to 0.5% quarter-on-quarter, resulting in 5.0% year-on-year growth
2024 Full-Year GDP: Adjusted to 4.4%, slightly exceeding market expectation, reflecting a strong economic rebound.
Manufacturing Sector: Positive growth driven by electronics, precision, and transport engineering sectors, although pharmaceutical output remained volatile.
Services Sector: Growth fueled by wholesale trade and tourism; however, retail and food services continued to struggle.
Potential Implications:
2025 Outlook: Challenges from global trade uncertainties and weak domestic services, with cost-of-living pressures lingering.
Policy Support: Fiscal measures expected to address economic challenges, with a focus on long-term priorities like ageing and AI adoption.
Monetary Policy: MAS likely to remain on pause for now, but may ease further if growth risks intensify in 2H25.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, while Singapore's economy ended 2024 on a positive note, the outlook for 2025 remains cautious, with challenges from global trade dynamics and persistent domestic weaknesses in certain sectors. However, the government's fiscal flexibility and expected policy support should provide a cushion against potential downturns.
