singaporebusiness sentiment in singapores manufacturing sector remains positive for the first half of 2022 despite uncertainties caused by covid19 variants and pressures on supply chains the singapore economic development board said monday overall a net weighted 8 of manufacturers anticipate a favorable business situation for the januaryjune period compared with the fourth quarter of 2021 the edb said a weighted 15 of manufacturers expect better business conditions while a weighted 7 foresee a weaker business outlook the transport engineering cluster is the most optimistic with a net weighted 54 of companies anticipating an improved operating environment for the six months ending june the edb said within this cluster the aerospace segment continues to expect higher demand for aircraft maintenance repair and overhaul work with more countries easing international travel restrictions a net weighted 16 of companies in the biomedical manufacturing cluster expect a positive business outlook in the first half of 2022 the edb said this positive sentiment is mainly driven by the medicaltechnology segment where companies project continually strong export demand for both covid19 and noncovid19related medical devices in the precisionengineering cluster a net weighted 11 of companies predict favorable business conditions to improve in the period the edb said the semiconductorequipment industry in the machineryandsystems segment leads the optimism as strong worldwide chip demand continues to drive capital investments among global semiconductor manufacturers on the other hand the electronics cluster is the least upbeat with a net weighted 4 of companies projecting a less favorable business situation for the januaryjune period compared with the fourth quarter of 2021 the edb said within this cluster the semiconductors segment foresees demand remaining strong although seasonally lower than that in the preceding quarter meanwhile a weighted 68 of manufacturers expect the employment level in the first quarter of 2022 to remain similar to that of the previous quarter overall a net weighted 12 of manufacturers expect to increase hiring in the period the edb said