Singapore’s economy entered a technical recession after shrinking by 41.2 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter, advance estimates by the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed on Tuesday.

The latest gross domestic product estimate — computed largely from data in April and May — was worse than analysts’ forecast. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the Southeast Asian economy to shrink by 37.4 percent quarter-over-quarter.

A technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of quarter-on-quarter contraction. In the first three months of the year, Singapore reported a 3.3 percent decline in GDP compared to the preceding quarter.

Compared to a year ago, the Singapore economy contracted by 12.6 percent in the second quarter. That’s also worse than the 10.5 percent forecast by analysts in the Reuters poll.

The economic performance in the second quarter worsened due to the implementation of partial lockdown measures which the Singapore government called a “circuit breaker” aimed at reducing the spread of the coronavirus.

Those measures, which started in early April, involved shutting most workplaces (except those offering essential services) and closing all schools temporarily. The “circuit breaker” lasted nearly the entire second quarter, with the Singapore government easing some measures starting in early June.  

The restrictions hurt businesses dependent on domestic consumption at a time when external demand for Singapore goods was also “weak” due to “a global economic downturn precipitated by” the coronavirus pandemic, the ministry said.

Here are how the different sectors within Singapore’s economy performed in the second quarter:

• Manufacturing expanded by 2.5 percent year-on-year
• Construction plunged 54.7 percent compared to a year ago
• Services-producing industries contracted by 13.6 percent compared to the same period last year.

The coronavirus pandemic, which is one of the biggest threats to the global economy, could drag Singapore into its worst economic recession this year. The government has projected an annual contraction of between four percent and seven percent for 2020.