Singapore raises 2007 GDP forecast
Afp, Singapore
Singapore on Wednesday raised its economic growth forecast after the economy expanded at a better-than-expected 7.9 percent in 2006, one of the fastest rates in Asia. The expansion in gross domestic product (GDP), the value of all goods and services produced in the country, exceeded the 7.7 percent previously estimated by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Singapore's growth rate placed it among Asia's best-performing economies behind China's 10.7 percent expansion and Vietnam's 8.2 percent rise. The Singapore government had forecast 4.0-6.0 percent GDP growth this year but the trade ministry said in its 2007 outlook that expansion should be in the 4.5-6.5 percent range. The city-state's expansion last year exceeded the 6.6 percent growth figure recorded in 2005 and was just ahead of economists' forecasts of 7.7-7.8 percent for 2006.
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