Economists trim Singapore 2015, 2016 growth forecasts - MAS survey

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Economists have revised their economic growth forecasts for Singapore for 2015 and 2016 down from their projections three months ago, a central bank survey showed on Wednesday.

The median forecast of 22 economists surveyed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) was for gross domestic product (GDP) to expand 1.9 percent this year, down from 2.2 percent expected in the previous MAS survey published in September.

The MAS survey showed that economists expect GDP growth in the fourth quarter to come in at 1.4 percent year-on-year, down from 2.3 percent expected in the previous survey.

In 2016, GDP growth is seen likely to come in at 2.2 percent, compared to 2.8 percent expected in the September survey.

Economists also trimmed their inflation forecasts for next year, according to the median forecasts in the MAS survey.

The headline consumer inflation rate was seen at 0.5 percent in 2016, down from 1.1 percent in the September survey, while core inflation was expected at 1.0 percent, down from 1.3 percent.

For this year, economists see the all-items consumer inflation rate at -0.5 percent, down from their previous expectation for -0.2 percent.

Core inflation was expected to come in at 0.5 percent in 2015, unchanged from the previous MAS survey.

Economists expect the Singapore dollar to trade at S$1.4300 against the U.S. dollar at end-2015, and at S$1.4700 at the end of 2016, the MAS survey showed.

In November, the city-state softened its growth outlook for 2015 amid sluggish global demand, even as data showed that Singapore's economy grew much faster than initially estimated in the third quarter thanks to a better performing services industry.

The government now expects full-year growth for this year to be "close to 2.0 percent", while growth in 2016 is seen at 1.0-3.0 percent.

Against a backdrop of low inflation and weak global growth, Singapore's central bank has eased its exchange-rate based monetary policy twice this year, most recently in October.

(Reporting by Masayuki Kitano; Editing by Sam Holmes)