A strong expansion in the manufacturing sector underpinned the growth of Singapore economy in the fourth quarter, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said Monday.

The manufacturing sector grew 28.2 percent year on year, up from 13.8 percent in the third quarter, the ministry said in its advance estimates.

On a sequential basis, the sector expanded by an annualized rate of 20 percent after a sharp contraction in the preceding quarter.

The Singapore economy grew 12.5 percent in the fourth quarter. On a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter annualized basis, it grew by 6.9 percent. For the whole of 2010, it grew by 12.7 percent, a figure that had been released earlier in the New Year message of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The biomedical manufacturing industry led the expansion with a strong rebound in pharmaceutical output in the fourth quarter. In contrast, the construction sector contracted by 1.2 percent year on year in the fourth quarter.

The services sector continued to grow healthily at 8.8 percent, largely supported by the financial services sector, which saw increased activities for Asian currency unit, commercial banking and foreign exchange trading. The tourism-related services sectors were also bolstered by strong visitor arrivals from the region.