Singapore: The recovery of the manufacturing sector looks healthy – UOB

Economist at UOB Group Barnabas Gan comments on the recently published Manufacturing PMI in Singapore.

Key Quotes

“Singapore’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) reported by SIPMM rose marginally by 0.1 point to 50.8 in June 2021. This marks the 12th straight month where PMI is above the expansionary 50.0 handle.”

“The expansion in June’s PMI reading continues to paint a robust manufacturing backdrop, which had underpinned Singapore’s economic resilience since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.”

“Moreover, the rise in the PMI reading in June indicates that the overall manufacturing sector had been relatively unscathed from Phase Two (Heightened Alert [HA]), which ended on 14 June 2021.”

“Barring an exacerbation of COVID-19 infections in Singapore, the manufacturing sector is expected to be one of the key pillars of growth for Singapore. Singapore’s export-oriented industries are expected to ride on the winds of the global trade growth, which should subsequently benefit externally-facing sectors such as manufacturing, wholesale trade, and financial services. As such, we expect Singapore’s manufacturing sector to expand by 8.0% in 2021.”