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SINGAPORE'S economy grew at an annualised, seasonally adjusted rate of 4.3 per cent in the third quarter, well below market expectations.
The figure compares with an advance estimate, which had been based largely on data from July and August, of 6.4 per cent issued last month.
From a year ago, the economy expanded by 8.9 per cent in the three months to the end of September, compared with an advance estimate of 9.4 per cent, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a press release on Monday.
The median of a Reuters poll showed that economists had expected third-quarter growth to match the government's advance estimates.
An economist at ING Financial Markets, Tim Condon: 'I think there was a slowdown in retail sales and probably private consumption which caused the slowdown on the expenditure side.'
'That said, Singapore is still growing at a very rapid pace and above the government's estimates of what they see as a steady growth rate.'
Manufacturing expanded 10.5 per cent in the third quarter from a year earlier, while construction grew 17.7 per cent.
The financial services sector grew 19.9 per cent, partly due to a strong performance in financial services such as private banking and asset management.
The government also narrowed its 2007 growth forecast range to 7.5-8.0 per cent , from 7-8 per cent range announced earlier. Last year, the economy grew 7.9 per cent. -- REUTERS
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