By Bryan Lee

THE gloomy outlook for Singapore economy is expected to continue for the rest of the year, according to new polls on business sentiment.

Among manufacturers, 87 per cent said the outlook for the next six months will not improve from the previous quarter, during which industrial output contracted 5.6 per cent.

The services sector was more upbeat, with 24 per cent looking for an improvement, up 1 percentage point from the previous quarter. But there were also more pessimists, who made up 22 per cent of respondents, up from 20 per cent in the previous survey.

The manufacturing survey was conducted by the Economic Development Board and the services one was done by the Department of Statistics.

Singapore's trade-driven economy shrank an annualised and seasonally adjusted 6.6 per cent in the second quarter, its biggest contraction in five years.