in year - on - year terms, the economy contracted by 6. 5 % in the first half of 2020, its first decline since the global financial crisis. it is more meaningful to evaluate the performance and prospects for the economy by type of activity rather than the usual categories of construction, manufacturing, and services. construction, travel - related, and customer - facing domestic services bore the brunt of the covid - 19 containment measures. construction, accounting for about 4 % of gdp, was severely affected by the circuit breaker measures and the spike in infection among foreign workers in the dormitories. the travel - related cluster — comprising air transport, accommodation, arts, entertainment and recreation, and also accounting for about 4 % of gdp — exerted the largest drag on economic growth. consumer - facing domestic services — comprising retail, food services and land transport and accounting for another 4 % of gdp — were affected by heightened fears of infection and the circuit breaker measures. thus, roughly 12 % of the economy is at the epicentre of the impact from covid - 19. the trade - related cluster – comprising manufacturing, wholesale trade, and water transport and storage – was also affected by the covid - 19 pandemic but less so. manufacturing in particular was supported by a surge in the production of pharmaceutical ingredients and biological products. the electronics industry also did better than expected. the modern services cluster – comprising financial, ict, and professional services – was also less affected. the financial services sector in particular has done reasonably well in the face of the pandemic. i will touch on this later in my remarks. all in, the singapore economy will experience a full - year contraction in 2020, with gdp growth projected at – 7 to – 4 %. the 12 % of the economy that is worst - hit — construction, travel - related, and consumerfacing domestic services — will take time to recover. while we may see strong positive sequential growth in the second half of this year for those activities, it will not be sufficient to restore activity to pre - crisis levels. the performance of the trade - related sector will be dampened by weak external demand and continued small frictions in global supply chains, but headline manufacturing output is likely to be supported by strong demand for pharmaceutical products. growth in modern services, on the other hand, is likely to moderate in the second half alongside the pullback in business activity. both core inflation and cpi - all items inflation are expected to turn negative, averaging

savenaca narube : brief overview of the fiji economy and monetary policy opening address by mr savenaca narube, governor of the reserve bank of fiji, at the official opening of the westpac branch, port denarau, 3 september 2007. * * * mr. john cashmore, westpac fiji chief manager distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen introductory remarks good evening i am pleased to be here at port denarau today for the opening of westpac ’ s newest branch. over the past two years, i have attended a few of westpac ’ s functions. in october last year, i participated in westpac ’ s launch of the moneygram worldwide money transfer service with mh supermarkets. in april, this year, i was also at their launching of the westpac american express credit card. i also take this opportunity to congratulate westpac for its 106 years of service to fiji – the exact date was 12 august 2007. westpac is considered fiji ’ s longest continuing bank. we can see that westpac has played a valuable role in advancing fiji ’ s financial system and also its economic development. westpac port denarau i am sure that the decision by john and his westpac team to open a branch in port denarau was an easy one to make. the growth and the development in denarau have been impressive. it makes good business sense to establish a bank branch in denarau. this branch is an extension to westpac ’ s existing facilities in this area – that is a bureau de change and atms – at sheraton fiji and westin. i have been informed that this is a fully fledged branch service which also includes a business centre complete with an interview room and a separate business teller ’ s area. this branch will cater for businesses, denarau island residents, local and international visitors and workers of the surrounding island resorts. i am sure that your customers appreciate your presence here – right at their door step. the new port denarau branch is westpac ’ s 18th branch in fiji. i have been told that westpac intends to increase their representation in fiji. this definitely reflects westpac ’ s confidence in the country. as we can see, this branch has a modern look and feel. it has a telephone and internet banking kiosk in - branch for customers who wish to access such services. this branch is manned by 6 employees and a customer service manager. there will be regular visits from west