Singapore's manufacturing in December was up 12.6 percent from a year earlier, topping expectations and suggesting resilience in the trade-dependent economy in the face of Europe's sovereign-debt crisis.

The rise was driven by a surge for the pharmaceutical industry, the Economic Development Board said on Thursday, and followed a revised 8 percent drop in November. The increase beat the forecast of every one of 12 economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires; the median prediction was 7.3 percent.

Compared with the previous month, production was up a seasonally adjusted 7.8 percent, after being down a revised 24.5 percent in November from October. The median forecast of eight economists in the poll was a 3 percent expansion.