The manufacturing sector is a lone bright spot in an otherwise shaky economy, as Singapore continues to pull itself out of the crater left behind by Covid-19.

According to figures released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Oct. 14, the manufacturing sector grew by 2 per cent in the third quarter of 2020 (3Q2020), when compared to the third quarter of 2019.

MTI said the growth was supported by output expansions in the electronics and precision engineering clusters.

These are driven by robust global demand for semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

But as expected of an economy devastated by the impact of the pandemic, other sectors such as construction registered a 44.7 per cent contraction, year-on-year.

The services producing industries recorded an 8 per cent contraction, year-on-year.

Compared to 3Q2019, GDP went down 7 per cent.

Always look on the bright side of life

Although the numbers look bad when compared to 2019, they are better when compared to the second quarter of 2020, seasonally-adjusted.

That includes the months where the Circuit Breaker was implemented, where most economic activity came to a standstill, so the reopening of the economy would naturally show some growth.

When compared to the second quarter of 2020, the construction sector shot up by 38.7 per cent.

The services producing industries grew by 6.8 per cent, as compared to the second quarter of 2020.

A deeper dive into this part of the economy yields more insights.

The bad

MTI says that aviation and tourism-related sectors continue to see "significant contractions", because of the lack of tourists.

Trade-related services sectors like wholesale trade are still grappling with weak external demand, as other countries fight the pandemic.

The not-so-bad

Consumer-facing sectors, such as retail and food, saw growth after Singapore exited the Circuit Breaker, but are still not doing better than last year, because of the Covid-19-related constraints.

The good

The finance and insurance, and the information and communications sectors recorded "steady growth" during the quarter.

Overall, GDP grew by 7.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2020, when compared to the second quarter of 2020, seasonally-adjusted.

To sum up, we're doing better than where we were a few months ago, but still not as well as where we were a year ago.

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Top image from MTI's Facebook page.