 Singapore has staged a startling turnaround |
Singapore's economy has spurred itself back to rapid growth on the back of a recovery in both manufacturing and services, official figures show. The city state expanded at an annual rate of 12.3% in the three months from April to June.
The growth follows a 5.5% contraction in the first quarter as drug firms lost sales to generic competitors, sparking fears of recession.
Forecasters are now predicting a much stronger performance for the full year.
Electronics sales
The annual rate is the pace of expansion if the three-month performance were to last for a full year, rather than a measure of the actual expansion over the previous 12 months.
The government's full-year prediction for 2005 was reduced from 3-5% to 2.5-4.5% following the January-March figures.
The expectation is now that the final result will come close to the top of the new range.
Manufacturing drove part of the revival, amid hopes of a pickup in electronics sales worldwide.
But services - accounting for two-thirds of the country's economy - also put in a strong showing, at 4.2% on a year earlier.
One-Minute World News 
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