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SINGAPORE - Singapore's booming oil rig and biomedical sectors will be key supports for the city-state's economy in 2007 given lingering weakness in electronics, the central bank said Tuesday.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), in its half-yearly macro-economic review, maintained its forecast of 4.5-6.5 percent overall growth for this year but said the economy remained vulnerable to external risks.

The economy will draw support from non-electronics industries which account for 18 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), it said.

"For the remainder of 2007, the non-IT industries will be the main pillar of support for the Singapore economy," MAS said.

"In particular, the transport engineering and biomedical clusters will remain the two star performers."

Singapore's offshore oil rig makers account for 80 percent of the global market.

"With oil prices forecast to stay firm, the demand for oil rigs and rig-conversion projects will keep the domestic marine and transport engineering segment buoyant," MAS said.

The central bank said external risks facing the city-state include slower growth in the United States, a major export market for Singapore's trade-led economy, and oversupply in the global technology sector.

Singapore is a key exporter of technology products including semiconductors, computers and telecommunications.

"The current softness in the IT industry appears to be largely a supply-side phenomenon, arising from the over-estimation of demand on the part of semiconductor manufacturers," MAS said. This is expected to ease in the second half of the year.

Singapore's gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the country, was 194 billion dollars (128 billion US) in 2005. – AFP/ir

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