Sars clouds Singapore growth hopes

SINGAPORE said today its economic growth in the first quarter was 1.6% up on a year ago, revised from a 1.5% estimate. It was cautious about the outlook as the WHO refused to lift its advice against travel to the country as a suspected case of the killer Sars virus surfaced yesterday. Malaysia said its growth this year will miss the 6% to 6.5% forecast but should beat last year's 4.2%.