Singapore economy starts to show signs of slowdown

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Singapore economy has started to show signs of a slowdown, particularly in electronic sector, although the city-state will be able to weather the uncertainties ahead, local newspapers reported on Monday, citing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

 Lee also reiterated the Southeast Asian country is expecting a more conservative annual growth of between 1-3 percent. His comments came ahead of the country’s non-oil domestic export data on Tuesday.

 “But in Singapore, we are prepared and we are ready for what is going to come,” Lee was quoted by Straits Times newspaper as saying.

 Singapore’s trade-driven economy contracted in the last quarter of 2011, signalling it might slip into technical recession as a slump in manufacturing output and a slowdown in external demand hurt exports.

 For the whole of 2011, the economy expanded by 4.8 percent, slightly below government forecast of 5 percent.