Singapore's business receipts index, which measures activity in the services sector, rose 6.9 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, rebounding from a Sars-induced slump last year, official data showed on Thursday.
Singapore's services sector, hit hard between April and June last year by the deadly Sars outbreak, accounts for 63 percent of the $95 billion economy and more than half of total employment.
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome cut tourist traffic to Singapore and frightened many residents away from shops and restaurants. But service businesses have since rebounded.
The economy expanded an annualised 11.2 percent in January to March, the third quarter of double-digit gains.
The index measures income earned by businesses in areas such as transport, telecommunications, medicine, real estate, finance and insurance.
After excluding financial and insurance services, the latest index shows activity rose 9.7 percent from a year earlier, the Department of Statistics said in a statement.
The government said it has rebased prices and weights in its index to 2002 from 1997 to reflect current conditions. A new sample of nearly 1,900 businesses was selected to replace about 1,130 in the previous sample.
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