Singapore  - Singapore analysts expected the city-state's economy to shrink 3.6 per cent in 2009, a survey by the central bank said Wednesday, less than the government forecast of a 4- to 6-per-cent contraction.

A poll of 21 economists and analysts by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in August showed that the experts were more upbeat about Singapore's economy compared with three months ago when they expected Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) to fall by 6.5 per cent this year.

For 2010, the analysts predicted it would grow 4.5 per cent, thus upgrading their median forecast of 4.2-per-cent growth that they reported in May, the survey found.

According to a median forecast in the survey, GDP was expected to fall by 3 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter and grow by 1.9 per cent in the final quarter of 2009.

In the first half of 2009, Singapore's GDP fell 6.5 per cent compared with the same period a year ago as the export-reliant city-state struggled to pull out of its worst recession in more than four decades.

In the second quarter, the economy rebounded as GDP soared 20.7 per cent compared with the previous quarter, mainly because of strong gains in biomedical manufacturing.

However, the government warned that any sustained recovery was uncertain without a turnaround in demand in Singapore's main export markets in the United States and Europe.

In 2008, Singapore's economy grew 1.1 per cent. (dpa)