SINGAPORE - Economic growth is likely to have been subdued this year but could pick up slightly next year, a DBS economist has said.

The economy is likely to have grown by about 3 per cent overall for this year, which is "sub-par ... by Singapore's standard", Mr Irvin Seah said in a forecast on Thursday.

He estimated that it will expand around 3.2 per cent next year, which is slightly better than this year's figure.

However, that estimate for 2015 was a downgrade from his earlier prediction of 3.6 per cent, he noted.

"Next year will be challenging. Uncertainties in the external environment will rise as the global economy continues to struggle with this tepid recovery," he said.

"Most notably, 2015 could possibly see (a) divergence in monetary policies across key central banks around the world."

While the United States Federal Reserve is moving towards raising interest rates, central banks in Japan and Europe are considering printing more money.

"Such divergence in global monetary policies will have significant impact on the financial markets. Interest rate expectation will fluctuate and currencies will be volatile," Mr Seah said.