Singapore retail sales up 7.5% in Jan on surge in car sales

A 50.9 per cent year-on-year spike in motor-vehicle sales again drove up Singapore's retail sales in January 2016 - this time by 7.5 per cent.

Excluding the surge in car sales, retail sales would have increased by a more modest 1.4 per cent, said the Department of Statistics on Tuesday.

The total retail sales value in January 2016 was estimated at S$4.1 billion, higher than the S$3.8 billion in January 2015.

Apart from car sales, two other segments reported double-digit increases - medical goods & toiletries (16.3 per cent) and department stores (11.9 per cent).

Supermarkets, mini-marts & convenience stores, wearing apparel & footwear, and optical goods & books saw a rise in retail sales as well.

All other segments declined, however, with telecommunications apparatus & computers suffering the worst - a 30.5 per cent drop.

Watches & jewellery followed with an 8.4 per cent year-on-year fall.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, retail sales fell 1.2 per cent in January over the previous month.

Excluding motor vehicles, however - sales of these fell 4.2 per cent month on month - retail sales would have dropped a smaller 0.5 per cent from December 2015.