MAS maintained its estimate of 1 per cent to 3 per cent GDP growth in 2024, which was made in November.
The economy will be propelled by the ongoing recovery in the global electronics industry and the expected peaking of interest rates worldwide, said MAS.to 3.2 per cent, from the 3.1 per cent projection in January 2024 and 2.9 per cent in October 2023. While manufacturing activity slowed in the first quarter of 2024, MAS said the sector should continue to benefit from the ongoing global recovery in demand for electronic goods, especially for memory chips – a type of semiconductor that stores data.
MAS said the pullback in electronics output – driven by the semiconductor segment – was likely because of some short-term fluctuations in output, as the underlying improvement in the global tech cycle remains broadly intact.The modern services cluster also contracted on a seasonally adjusted basis by 4.2 per cent quarter on quarter in the January to March period, reversing the 4.4 per cent expansion in the previous quarter.
The receipts represent a 6 per cent injection above the average quarterly tourism receipts recorded in the first three quarters of 2023, and provided a fillip to the travel-related and domestic-oriented industries such as air transport, accommodation, arts, entertainment and recreation, retail, and food and beverage.