Singapore retail sales drop 10 percent in July
By ALEX KENNEDY
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SINGAPORE
Singapore retail sales dropped for a tenth consecutive mouth in July as the city-state's consumers remained cautious amid an economy slowly emerging from a severe recession.
Retail sales fell 9.8 percent from a year earlier after dropping 8.4 percent in June and 10.4 percent in May, the statistics department said in a statement Tuesday. Sales fell a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent from June.
Singaporeans are shying away from purchasing big-ticket items, instead pouring money into stock markets, which have been rising on hopes of a global economic recovery, and the local property market.
"Real buying of things like Chanel bags and watches hasn't improved much and is lagging speculative sentiment," said Adrian Foster, head of financial markets research Asia for Rabobank.
A weak labor market and fewer tourist arrivals have also hurt retail sales. Singapore's gross domestic product expanded an annualized seasonally adjusted 20.7 percent in the April to June period, the first growth in a year.
Retail sales numbers in the second half will benefit from a lower comparison with the year earlier since the recession bottomed in the fourth quarter, said Foster, who expects the economy to contract 1.9 percent this year. The government expects GDP to shrink between 4 percent and 6 percent.
Sales of motor vehicles in July fell 28 percent, jewelry and watches dropped 6.6 percent, and furniture and home furnishings slid 2.1 percent, the department said. Computer and telecom equipment sales jumped 6 percent.
