SINGAPORE: Singapore's economy shrank for the first time in three quarters as weaker manufacturing output interrupted the island's recovery from its deepest recession since independence in 1965.

GDP contracted an annualized 6.8 percent from the previous three months last quarter after climbing a revised 14.9 percent from July to September, the trade ministry said in a statement yesterday.

That was worse than the median estimate for a 2.1 percent decline in a Bloomberg News survey of eight economists. The economy shrank 2.1 percent in 2009.