Preliminary data revealed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry show the impact of the pandemic, the agency reported a downturn in the economy during the Q2 of the year.
Singapore suffered a big economic downturn in the Q2 of the year that led to a recession, this as consequence of the crisis for Covid-19 pandemic.
According to preliminary data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) drop by 41.2%, far above the 37.4% forecast by economists.
“We were expecting these numbers to look quite dismal, although this is worse than what we had expected” said Steve Cochrane, economist at Moody’s Analytics.
The Singaporean government agency also said that, compared to the previous year, the economy shrank 12.6% between April and June.
Singapore is the first Asian economy to report the GDP data for this Q2, the numbers show the impact of Covid-19 on the city-state.
The services and construction sector are the most affected by this economic downturn, the construction sector was practically paralyzed with a 95% drop in this last quarter.
The Singapore government forecasts that the GDP will shrink between 4 and 7% in annual terms, which would be considered the worst decline in its history.
The Ministry of Trade attributed the contraction to “low external demand in the context of a downturn in the global economy.”
Many countries around the world are already facing their worst downturn in the economy in decades.
Covid-19 outbreak in Singapore
The government reported 249 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the total number to 46,878 infected and 27 deaths.
Globally, the virus outbreak has infected more than 13.4 million people. More than 580,000 people have died.