WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE, TRANSPORT AND STORAGE
In services, wholesale and retail trade, and transportation and warehousing grew 4.3% in the fourth quarter, continuing the 6.1% improvement from the previous quarter.
All sectors in this group grew during the quarter, the ministry said.
“In particular, the wholesale sector has shown steady growth alongside the strong performance of Singapore’s merchandise exports,†MTI said.
“In contrast, growth in the transport and storage sector was in part due to weak base effects, as travel restrictions weighed heavily on the air transport segment in the fourth quarter of last year.”
Overall, the value added of this group of sectors remained 2.3% below pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter.
On a quarterly, seasonally adjusted basis, this group grew 2.3% in the fourth quarter, returning to a contraction of 0.6% in the previous quarter.
INFOCOMM, FINANCE AND INSURANCE, PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Collectively, growth of 6% was recorded in the fourth quarter for the information and communications, finance and insurance, and professional services sectors.
This growth moderated from the 8% growth recorded in the previous quarter.
All sectors of this group have grown, with the Infocomm sector in particular benefiting from strong demand for IT and digital solutions as well as robust game and software publishing activities, MTI said.
He added that the finance and insurance industry has been supported in part by fund management activities.
Sectors in this group grew 3.1% in the fourth quarter seasonally adjusted quarterly, faster than the 1.5% in the previous quarter.
OTHER SERVICE SECTORS
Growth of 3.1% in the fourth quarter was recorded by the other service sectors, comprising accommodation and food services, real estate, administrative and support services and other services.
Within that group, all industries grew except accommodation and food services, MTI said.
The weak performance in this sector is mainly due to ongoing travel restrictions, as well as tighter domestic restrictions, such as size limits for catering groups, during the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2020 , the ministry said.
Overall, the added value of this group of sectors remained 7.1% below pre-pandemic levels.
On a seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis, this group grew 4.9% in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 1.5% in the previous quarter.