Singapore's economy grew 2.6 percent in the third quarter, slightly less than expected

  Singapore's economy grew 2.6 percent in the third quarter, slightly less than expected

Singapore's economy expanded slightly less than expected in the third quarter from the previous quarter on an annualized basis, with growth supported by an improvement in the construction sector, preliminary data showed on Friday.

The economy grew 4.7 percent in the July-September period from the previous three months on an annualized and seasonally adjusted basis, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement.

Gross domestic product was expected to have grown 4.9 percent in annualized terms in July-September from the previous three months, according to the median forecast of a Reuters poll of economists.

In the second quarter, GDP grew a revised 1.2 percent on an annualized basis from the previous quarter.

GDP grew 2.6 percent in the third quarter from a yea

r earlier, a touch above forecasts in the Reuters poll for a 2.5 percent expansion. In the second quarter, Singapore's economy grew a revised 4.1 percent from the year earlier.