ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – Singapore’s factory output extended its expansion in February, growing 3.8 per cent year-on-year and beating analysts’ expectations.
This topped the 0.5-per-cent growth forecast made by economists in a Bloomberg poll.
Excluding the more volatile biomedical industry, output increased by 1.4 per cent in February.
However, January’s growth was revised lower to 0.6 per cent from an earlier estimate of 1.1 per cent, figures from the Economic Development Board (EDB) showed. Bright spots in February included a slim 2.6-per-cent increase in output by the key electronics industry, after it shrank 4.7 per cent in January.
Within the industry, the infocomms and consumer electronics segment grew 30.9 per cent, while semiconductors added 2.1 per cent and other electronics modules and components increased by 0.3 per cent.
However, the computer peripherals and data storage segment contracted 10.7 per cent.
The biomedical industry also returned to growth in February, with output expanding 27.4 per cent after shrinking 25.9 per cent in January.
