Singapore economic growth projected lower at 1-3 per cent in 2012

Singapore today said it expected economic growth to be lower at 1.0-3.0 per cent in 2012 with a slowdown in  exports and warned the situation could be worse if Europe's debt woes set off a global crisis.

"This does not factor in downside risks to growth, such as a worsening debt situation or a full-blown financial crisis in the advanced economies," the ministry of trade and industry (MTI) said in a statement releasing the data.

"Should these risks materialise, growth in the Singapore economy in 2012 could come in lower than expected," it added.

The city-state's 2011 gross domestic product (GDP) growth was projected at 5.0 per cent, down a steep fall from an all-time high of 14.5 per cent in 2010 when the economy was coming off at a 0.8 contraction during the 2009 recession.

Singapore's trade-driven open economy is seen as a  bellwether for Asia's exporters, heavily dependent on electronics and other manufactured shipments exports to North America and Europe for growth.

According to analysts, Asia's fate would depend much on how Europe moved to contain its debt crisis which has in its grip large economies including Italy and Spain.