Singapore's purchasing managers' index (PMI) continued to contract for the sixth straight month at 48.6 in December, a dip from that of 48.8 in November, Singapore Institute of Purchasing and Materials Management (SIPMM) said on Thursday.

"The contraction was due to declines in new orders, new export orders and production output," the SIPMM said in a statement.

A PMI reading of below 50 indicates a contraction in the manufacturing sector, while a reading above 50 indicates an expansion.

In particular, the electronics sector shrank considerably by 0. 8 point over the previous month to reach 46.6 in December.

The city-state's continuing contraction in the manufacturing sector was contrary to China's continuing expansion of 50.6, according to the official data. Even South Korea and Taiwan, which are similar to the city-state in exporting electronics productions, all saw slight upticks into the expansionary zone last December.

Experts said this is because Singapore's electronics sector produces mainly PC-related components, and has little exposure to the growing smartphone and tablet market, local media Channel NewsAsia said.

Singapore avoided technical recession again as sharp downward revisions were made to the GDP estimate of Q3 for 2012, from the 1. 5 percent contraction estimated in October to 6.3 percent contraction.

According to the official statistics released on Wednesday, Singapore's economy grew 1.8 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2012. On a year-on-year basis, the GDP grew 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, while the growth for the whole year was estimated at 1.2 percent.

The government has previously expected the economy to grow by around 1.5 percent for the whole year of 2012, which represented a downward revision from the official forecast of 1.5-2.5 percent announced earlier. The official forecast used to be 1-3 percent at the beginning of the year. Endi

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