Lee, speaking to Singapore media after an Asia-Pacific summit in Santiago, Chile, said the outlook for the United States and Japan, two of Singapore's top export markets, made him more optimistic than the MTI's planners.

"I think MTI is being cautious. If you look at the international environment, the US forecast is for slower growth but still good growth. I think they put it at 3.5 percent," the Straits Times quoted Lee as saying.

"The Japanese should still be growing, although recently there has been some slowdown. How we do will depend very much on how the Americans perform."

Last week, the MTI cut its 2004 gross domestic product growth forecast to 8.0-8.5 percent, from 8.0-9.0 percent, following a sharp slowdown in the third quarter, and warned of uncertainties on the economic outlook for 2005.

It maintained next year's forecast at 3.0-5.0 percent.

Singapore will have one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia this year but its performance is coming off a low base in 2003, when the economy was hit hard by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) regional health crisis.

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