Singapore's economy grew 4.3% on year in the October-December quarter, slowing from the 5.4% increase in July-September, but it was higher than the median economist forecast of a 3.6% rise. The less robust but still solid GDP growth in Q4 was caused by a slower 4.2% rise in manufacturing output in payback for an 11.1% surge in Q3. Growth in the services sector was little changed at 4.3% following a 4.0% gain in the previous three-month period.

On a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, the economy nearly came to a standstill, eking out just 0.1% and coming down sharply from the previous quarter's revised 3.2% expansion. It was still above the consensus call of a 0.7% decline and the economy maintained the seventh consecutive quarterly growth. The slowdown was mainly due to a 2.5% drop in manufacturing activity, compared to a 12.8% jump in Q3. Output in services rose 0.6%, down from 1.0%.

For the whole of 2024, GDP grew by 4.0%, up from the 1.1% growth in 2023.

The advance GDP estimate for the final quarter of 2024 is forecast to show Singapore's economic growth slowed to a still solid 3.6 percent on year after surging an upwardly revised 5.4 percent in the third quarter on strong global demand for electronic and growing 3.0 percent in each of the previous two quarters.

The Q4 GDP is expected to post a 0.7 percent drop, which would be its first quarter-on-quarter contraction in seven quarters (-0.5 percent in Q1 of 2023), following a 3.2 percent expansion in the final Q3 reading.

In November, the Ministry of Trade and Industry projected that Singapore's GDP growth would come in at around 3.5 percent in 2024 but slow down to a range of 1.0 percent to 3.0 percent in 2025 in light of global uncertainties.

GDP refers to the aggregate value of the goods and services produced in the economic territory of Singapore. GDP estimates are compiled by the output, expenditure and income approaches. Output-based GDP refers to the sum of gross value added generated by economic activities in the domestic economy. Expenditure-based GDP refers to the sum of private consumption expenditure of households including non-profit institutions serving households, government consumption expenditure, gross capital formation and net exports of goods and services. Income-based GDP refers to the sum of incomes receivable by each institutional sector from the domestic production of goods and services which includes compensation of employees, gross operating surplus and taxes (less subsidies, if any) on production and on imports.

In order to compare the real value of output/expenditure over time, it is necessary to remove the effect of price changes. This is achieved by selecting the price structure of 2010 as the base according to which the goods and services in other years are re-valued. The resulting aggregates after adjustment for price changes are known as constant-price estimates.
The advance GDP estimates are computed largely from data in the first two months of the quarter (e.g. 1st Quarter is based on Jan and Feb; 2nd Quarter is based on Apr and May). They are intended as early estimates of GDP growth in the quarter, and are subject to revision when more comprehensive data become available.

GDP is the all-inclusive measure of economic activity. Investors need to closely track the economy because it usually dictates how investments will perform. Investors in the stock market like to see healthy economic growth because robust business activity translates to higher corporate profits. Bond investors are more highly sensitive to inflation and robust economic activity could potentially pave the road to inflation. By tracking economic data such as GDP, investors will know what the economic backdrop is for these markets and their portfolios. The GDP report contains a treasure-trove of information which not only paints an image of the overall economy, but tells investors about important trends within the big picture. GDP components such as consumer spending, business and residential investment, and price (inflation) indexes illuminate the economy's undercurrents, which can translate to investment opportunities and guidance in managing a portfolio.

Each financial market reacts differently to GDP data because of their focus. For example, equity market participants cheer healthy economic growth because it improves the corporate profit outlook while weak growth generally means anemic earnings. Equities generally drop on disappointing growth and climb on good growth prospects.

Bond or fixed income markets are contrarians. They prefer weak growth so that there is less of a chance of higher central bank interest rates and inflation. When GDP growth is poor or negative it indicates anemic or negative economic activity. Bond prices will rise and interest rates will fall. When growth is positive and good, interest rates will be higher and bond prices lower.