Singapore’s retail sales growth decelerates in March

Retail sales in Singapore grew at an annual rate of 2.7% in March, the latest data by Statistics Singapore showed, while slowing substantially from February’s revised up 8.6% growth.

The latter has been the sharpest increase in a year, driven by higher receipts from the Lunar New Year holiday season.

In March, sales grew for items such as food and alcohol (17% YoY compared to 34.2% YoY in February), motor vehicles (7% YoY compared to 1.5% YoY in February), furniture and household equipment (0.6% YoY after a 0.9% YoY drop in February) and recreational goods (4% YoY compared to 6.5% YoY in February).

Sales also rose at petrol service stations (1.4% YoY compared to 5.4% YoY in February) and at department stores (0.4% YoY compared to 6.5% YoY in February).

Conversely, sales decreased at mini-marts and convenience stores (-3.7% YoY after a 5.6% YoY surge in February) and at optical goods and book stores (-2.7% YoY compared to -9.6% YoY in February).

In monthly terms, retail trade volumes shrank 1% in March, or at the steepest rate in six months.

The USD/SGD currency pair settled 0.35% lower at 1.3493 on Friday. For the week, the exotic currency pair retreated 0.97%, or the most since mid-November 2023.