SECTORS
The manufacturing sector’s growth was flat in the third quarter of 2025, compared with the 5 per cent expansion in the previous quarter.
“Growth was weighed down by output declines in the biomedical manufacturing and general manufacturing clusters, even as output in the other manufacturing clusters expanded,” said MTI.
The sector grew by 6.1 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, a turnaround from the 0.7 per cent contraction in the second quarter.
The construction sector grew by 3.1 per cent in the third quarter, down from the 6.2 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
“Growth during the quarter was supported by an increase in both public and private sector construction output,” said MTI.
However, the sector shrank by 1.2 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, a reversal from the 6.5 per cent growth recorded in Q2.
The group of services sectors comprising the wholesale and retail trade and transportation and storage sectors collectively expanded by 2.5 per cent in Q3, easing from the 4.9 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
The ministry attributed the growth in the wholesale trade sector to the machinery, equipment and supplies segment, while growth in the transportation and storage sector was largely supported by the water and air transport segments.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the wholesale and retail trade, and transportation and storage sectors as a whole contracted by 1.2 per cent, a pullback from the 2.8 per cent expansion in the second quarter.
The group of sectors comprising the information and communications, finance and insurance and professional services sectors grew by 4.4 per cent in the third quarter, slightly higher than the 4.3 per cent growth in the second quarter.
“Growth in the information and communications sector was primarily driven by the IT and information services segment, while that in the professional services sector was largely supported by the head offices and business representative offices segment,” said MTI.
“Meanwhile, growth in the finance and insurance sector was led by the banking and activities auxiliary to financial services segments.”
This group of sectors expanded by 1.3 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, down from the 1.6 per cent growth in Q2.
The remaining group of services sectors – accommodation and food services, real estate, administrative and support services and other services sectors – expanded by 4.1 per cent in Q3, following the 4 per cent expansion in the preceding quarter.
All sectors within the group, except for the food and beverage services sector, grew during the quarter, said MTI.
“In particular, the accommodation sector expanded on the back of an increase in international visitor arrivals,” the ministry added.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, these sectors collectively grew by 1.3 per cent, the same pace of growth as that recorded in the second quarter.
