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Singapore growth prospects perking up

By SONIA KOLESNIKOV, UPI Business Correspondent

SINGAPORE, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- The Chinese New Year this week may bring Singapore prosperity, but security worries tarnished bright hopes.

Although it's only February, the Singapore government has already upped its growth target for the year to 1-3 percent, as measured by gross domestic product.

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The Ministry of Trade and Industry previously had forecast GDP for a range anywhere between -2 percent to +2 percent.

In his Chinese New Year message delivered Sunday, Prime Minister Goh Chock Tong announced the upward revision. "The Year of the Snake turned out to be a troubled one. ... I hope the Year of the Horse will be more propitious," Goh said.

Most private economists had already forecast positive growth for the year, with a consensus hovering around 3 percent.

"Although the slew of monthly data out of Singapore painted a mixed picture, domestic leading indicators and external numbers confirmed that the bottoming out story remains intact. The more important question, however, is the strength of the recovery path," the United Overseas Bank noted in a recent research.

While growth prospects were revised, Goh still cautioned against "being excessively sanguine about prospects of an early economic recovery for Singapore."

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"In the U.S., some economic indicators are picking up, but others are not," he said. "Moreover, the EU economies remain sluggish, and Japan continues to be weighed down by structural problems. Sustained global economic recovery might still be some way off."

Goh, however, also said that the "most pressing concern" for Singapore is not the economy, but the threat to its security and its racial and religious harmony.

"Twelve of the 13 detained Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terrorists were Singaporean, but their plot was not indigenous to Singapore. It was foreign-inspired," Goh said, casting a pall over his New Year's message. "They were mere foot soldiers of foreign masterminds. Their handlers came from outside to teach and direct them to inflict terror in Singapore."

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