A cyclist cycles at the Merlion Park in Singapore's Marina Bay on Aug. 11, 2021. Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced on Wednesday that it upgraded Singapore's GDP growth forecast for 2021 to 6-7 percent from 4-6 percent, in view of Singapore's better-than-expected economic performance in the first half of the year, as well as the latest external and domestic economic developments. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua)

Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced on Wednesday that it upgraded Singapore's GDP growth forecast for 2021 to 6-7 percent from 4-6 percent, in view of Singapore's better-than-expected economic performance in the first half of the year, as well as the latest external and domestic economic developments.

The ministry said in the Economic Survey of Singapore Second Quarter 2021 that the Singapore economy expanded by 14.7 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2021, faster than the 1.5 percent growth in the previous quarter.

It attributed the strong growth largely to the low base in the year-earlier period when GDP fell by 13.3 percent as a result of the Circuit Breaker measures implemented from April 7 to June 1, 2020, as well as the sharp fall in external demand amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

In absolute terms, Singapore's GDP in the second quarter of this year remained 0.6 percent below its pre-pandemic level in the same period of 2019, MTI added.

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted basis, the Singapore economy contracted by 1.8 percent in the second quarter of 2021, a reversal from the 3.3 percent expansion in the first quarter.

Two women tour the Merlion Park in Singapore's Marina Bay on Aug. 11, 2021. Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced on Wednesday that it upgraded Singapore's GDP growth forecast for 2021 to 6-7 percent from 4-6 percent, in view of Singapore's better-than-expected economic performance in the first half of the year, as well as the latest external and domestic economic developments. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua)