Singapore's retail sales rise more than estimated on vehicles

Singapore’s retail sales increased more than economists estimated in October as consumers spent more on vehicles and fuel.

The retail sales index rose 8.5% from a year earlier after gaining a revised 0.2% in September, the Statistics Department said in a statement today. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of nine economists was for a 1.3% gain.

Jobs growth and visitor arrivals in Singapore are helping boost sales at hotels, restaurants and department stores, with a report today showing the economy added 31,900 jobs last quarter. At the same time, consumer confidence may falter as Europe’s sovereign-debt turmoil hurts Asian exports and threatens to push the world into another recession.

 

“Worsening global conditions should persuade households to cut back on their discretionary spending,” Sukhy Ubhi, an economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London, said before the report. “This would not be surprising given Singapore’s dependence on world trade, making it one of Asia’s most vulnerable economies to a global downturn.”

 

Adjusted for seasonal factors, overall retail sales rose 6.1% in October from September, when they rose a revised 0.7%, today’s report showed. The index measuring purchases excluding automobiles climbed 8.6% from a year earlier after advancing 3.5% in September.

 

Singapore controls pollution and congestion on its roads by selling limited permits for each automobile category, and the quotas may distort sales figures because motor vehicles are the biggest component of the retail index, accounting for about a quarter of the gauge.