Retail sales in Singapore grew stronger than expected in March, backed by yet another increase in automobile sales, figures from the Department of Statistics showed Tuesday.
Retail sales increased 9.1 percent year-on-year in March, while economists' expectations were for a 8 percent rise. This followed a 20.1 percent surge in February.
Compared to last year, motor vehicle sales rose 17.8 percent, sharply weaker than a 73.6 percent jump seen in the previous month. February's exceptionally strong growth was partly due to the low base effect with the Lunar New Year and hence fewer trading days in February last year.
Excluding motor vehicle sales, the annual growth rate of retail sales was just 6.5 percent. Sales at department stores grew 5.3 percent and supermarket sales rose 7.4 percent. Sales of food and beverages grew 8 percent, following 0.4 percent fall in the previous month.
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, total retail sales increased 1.6 percent compared with expectations for a 0.4 percent rise. This followed a 1.4 percent drop in sales in February.
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