Services sector business receipts up 7.7% in Q2

Financial & insurance services enjoyed top growth of 13.自存倉9%SINGAPORE's services sector continued to perform well in the second quarter of 2013, with business receipts rising 7.7 per cent year-on-year, and all segments registering positive growth.Economists say the strong showing augurs well for Singapore's economy, and they predict that growth for the rest of the year will continue to be led by the services industry.On a quarter-on-quarter basis (without seasonal adjustments), receipts in Q2 were also up 2 per cent.The data released yesterday by the Department of Statistics (DOS) excluded wholesale & retail trade and accommodation & food services.Financial and insurance services enjoyed the highest growth of 13.9 per cent compared to a year ago, while real estate, rental & leasing services followed close behind with an 11.5 per cent rise in business receipts.While no segment did poorly year-on-year - with higher turnovers recorded across all eight categories - transport and storage services receipts grew the least in Q2, posting a one per cent incr迷你倉新蒲崗ase.Against the previous quarter, education services registered the largest drop, with a decline of 15.5 per cent.But others like real estate, rental and leasing services, as well as information and communications services, recorded higher turnover. Receipts for those segments rose 7.5 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively, compared to the previous quarter."The numbers correlate well with Q2 GDP," UOB economist Francis Tan told BT, recalling the robust services activity which pushed second-quarter GDP growth past the advance estimate of 3.7 per cent, to 3.8 per cent year-on-year."It's clear that services will be a mainstay to stabilise our GDP, especially since it's less volatile compared to the manufacturing sector," added Mr Tan.Irvin Seah of DBS agreed, saying: "Since Q4 last year, we've seen growth improving in a broad-based manner across various services industries. In particular, I think the financial services sector has actually done exceptionally well. In terms of growth prospects, the services sector is certainly improving as we go along."迷你倉出租