AKIPRESS.COM - Singapore's economic growth has slowed sharply in the first three months of the year, but the central bank has stood pat on monetary policy, saying it would be lifted by a pick-up in global growth, SBS reported.

Preliminary estimates showed the city-state's trade-reliant economy expanded a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent quarter on quarter compared with 6.1 percent expansion in October-December, the trade ministry said on Monday.

The ministry said growth was hit by a 1.8 percent quarter-on-quarter contraction in the services industry.

On a year-on-year basis, GDP is estimated to have expanded 5.1 percent in the first quarter, slower than the 5.5 percent rise in the final three months of 2013.

The city's central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), forecast growth of 2.0-4.0 percent for 2014, against 4.1 percent last year.

Manufacturing rose 4.5 percent from the preceding quarter and 8.0 percent year-on-year because of a strong rebound in the output from the biomedical and chemical segments, the trade ministry said.

Construction remained strong, expanding 10.7 percent from the previous quarter as the government ramped up infrastructure projects. The sector was up 6.5 percent from the previous year.

Singapore uses the exchange rate rather than interest rates to contain inflation as the city-state imports almost all of its needs. The central bank forecast this year's overall inflation rate at 1.5-2.5 percent.