Private economists kept their forecast for Singapore's 2022 economic growth at 4 percent, according to a survey recently released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Manufacturing, which makes up about one-fifth of Singapore’s economy, is set to remain a key bright spot for the year ahead. Economists expect the sector to grow 4.1 percent, higher than the forecast of 3.3 percent three months ago.

The outlook also brightened for the wholesale and retail trade at 3.7 percent as well as for non-oil domestic exports at 7.8 percent, increases from 3.2 percent and 4.8 percent in the previous survey, respectively.

The growth forecast for the finance and insurance sector remained unchanged at 4.1 percent.

Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes accommodation and private road transport costs, is set to hit 2.7 percent, also higher from the 1.8 percent estimate in the December survey.