Singapore manufacturing jumps 7.9%

Singapore’s manufacturing output rose 10.1% in March from a year earlier, lifting first-quarter 2026 growth to 7.9%, the Economic Development Board said Monday. (edb.gov.sg) (english.news.cn) The March rebound followed a weak February, when factory output slipped 0.1% year on year and fell 7.2% from January on a seasonally adjusted basis. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, February output had still risen 3.9% from a year earlier. (edb.gov.sg) Electronics was the standout in March, with output up 30% from a year earlier. Precision engineering rose 16.8%, transport engineering 15.2%, general manufacturing 5.8%, and food, beverages and tobacco 4.9%. (english.news.cn) Two clusters still contracted. Biomedical manufacturing fell 17.2% and chemicals dropped 2.3% in March, even as most of the sector expanded. (english.news.cn) The factory data adds detail to Singapore’s first-quarter economy numbers released on April 14. The Ministry of Trade and Industry said gross domestic product grew 4.6% from a year earlier, down from 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025, and shrank 0.3% from the previous quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis. (straitstimes.com) That broader outlook has darkened since late February. Trade and Industry Ministry officials and the Monetary Authority of Singapore said the Iran war, higher oil prices and tighter supply chains could slow activity in the rest of 2026. (straitstimes.com) Across the wider region, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office projected growth of 4.3% in 2025 and 4.0% in 2026 after revising its outlook higher in January. Yasuto Watanabe of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum wrote on April 21 that the Middle East conflict has since raised downside risks through energy prices and market volatility. (icis.com) (omfif.org) A separate Asian Development Bank report argued that deeper regional capital markets can help absorb shocks by widening funding sources and spreading risk across borders. The report said cross-border assets in Asia and the Pacific reached 75% of regional gross domestic product in 2023 after peaking at 83% in 2020. (aric.adb.org) For now, Singapore’s factory numbers show electronics demand is still carrying a large share of the load. Whether that strength can offset energy and trade disruptions will become clearer in the next round of growth data. (edb.gov.sg) (straitstimes.com)