SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Singapore’s economy grew by 3.9% in the first quarter of 2025 from a year earlier, government data showed on Thursday, slightly higher than an official advance estimate of 3.8% released last month.
On a quarter-on-quarter, seasonally-adjusted basis, gross domestic product contracted by 0.6% in the January-March period, compared with an advance estimate of a 0.8% contraction.
The trade ministry maintained its GDP growth forecast for 2025 at 0.0% to 2.0%, after revising it downwards from 1.0% to 3.0% in April after the United States announced its plans for global tariffs.
On Thursday, the ministry said that moves by major economies to de-escalate tensions since then had slightly improved Singapore’s external demand outlook for the rest of the year.
“Notwithstanding the positive developments in recent weeks, the global economic outlook remains clouded by significant uncertainty, with the risks tilted to the downside,” the ministry said in a statement.
Singapore has warned of the risk of a recession and job losses due to the fallout from U.S. tariffs, with the trade minister last week saying the growth forecast may need to be further adjusted. A technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarterly contractions.
Despite having a free-trade agreement and running a trade deficit with the United States, the wealthy financial hub has still been slapped with a 10% baseline tariff rate by Washington.
Other Southeast Asian countries have been threatened with much higher tariffs, although they have been delayed until July and an interim 10% tariff is in place for now.
There will also be indirect impacts on Singapore, one of the world’s most open economies and a shipping hub, if the U.S. tariffs constrict global trade.
Singapore has said it was trying to negotiate concessions on pharmaceutical tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened but not yet announced.
(Reporting by Jun Yuan Yong, additional reporting by Xinghui Kok; Editing by John Mair)
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