Three sectors registered growth - the transport engineering cluster which grew by almost 1 per cent over last March, the aerospace and marine and offshore engineering segments which saw output rise by 10.1 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
SINGAPORE'S manufacturing sector shrank a record amount in March, dealing a setback to hopes that the economy is starting down the path to recovery.
Manufacturing output, which makes up about a quarter of gross domestic product (GDP), plunged 33.9 per cent last month compared to a year ago, according to data released by the Economic Development Board (EDB) on Friday.
It was dragged down by the drug cluster, which shrivelled 55 per cent last month over a year ago.
Electronics did not do much better, declining 35 per cent.
The March numbers were significantly worse than February's drop of 15.1 per cent and beat even January's record plunge of 27.6 per cent.
On the bright side, however, both January and February's numbers were revised upwards from their initial estimates.
These improved revisions led to slightly better numbers for manufacturing in the first quarter than previously predicted. The sector shrank 26.1 per cent in the first three months of the year, less than the 29 per cent decline that the Government had estimated earlier this month.
On a month-on-month basis, which is a better indicator of the recent trend, manufacturing contracted 13.9 per cent last month over February. This was a sharp reversal from the previous month, when the sector actually grew 3.5 per cent in February over January.
