Singapore Trims Growth Forecast on Global Slowdown Risks

Singapore cut the upper end of its economic growth forecast for 2012 as a global slowdown from Europe to China weighs on the island’s expansion.

The Southeast Asian country’s gross domestic product will probably rise 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent this year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a televised message yesterday on the eve of the city state’s National Day. The government previously predicted growth of 1 percent to 3 percent. The economy grew 1.7 percent in the first half, he said.