Economists in Singapore lowered their forecast on the country's economic growth for 2005 to 3.8 percent from an estimated 4.3 percent three months ago, according to the result of a survey released Friday.

The professional forecasters expected the growth rate of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of this year to slow down to 2.6 percent, and that for the following quarters to be 4.3 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively.

Growth forecasts on all sectors for 2005 except financial service sector are moderated, and the private consumption growth will ease to 3.3 percent this year from 8.6 percent last year.

Both the unemployment rate and the consumer price index will keep at a low level this year, according to the quarterly survey conducted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The Singapore economy registered a rebound of 8.4 percent in 2004, but recorded a slower-than-expected 2.5 percent increase in the first quarter of this year.

In May, the government cut its GDP growth forecast for 2005 by 0.5 percentage points to between 2.5 percent and 4.5 percent due to the expected slowdown of economic growth in the United States, the European Union and Japan.

Source: Xinhua