Singapore's economy to shrink 6% to 9% in 2009
Extract from channelnewasia
" SINGAPORE: Singapore's economy is expected to shrink by six per cent to nine per cent this year on the back of more job losses and a sharp fall in domestic economic output over the past two quarters, the government said on Tuesday.
The new forecast is significantly lower than the previous projected contraction of between two per cent and five per cent, and follows fresh data showing a sharp deceleration in the first quarter.
Preliminary data released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) showed that gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 11.5 per cent in the first quarter year-on-year, far worse than the 4.2 per cent contraction in the preceding quarter.
The revised GDP forecast was made after the trade-dependent city state's key exports, known as non-oil domestic exports (NODX), fell by an estimated 17 per cent in March from a year ago. "
