Singapore’s retail sales rose for a ninth month as consumers bought more telecommunication products and increased purchases at gas stations, reported Bloomberg.
The retail sales index rose 6.4% from a year earlier in November after gaining a revised 8.4% in October, the Statistics Department said in a statement today. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 10 economists was for a 6.7% gain.
Jobs growth and an expanding tourism industry in Singapore have boosted sales at hotels, restaurants and department stores, helping counter weakening exports as global demand falters. The number of visitors to the island rose 15% in the third quarter of 2011 from a year earlier as casino-resorts run by Genting Singapore Plc and Las Vegas Sands Corp. lured tourists.
“The domestic economy is still doing well with pretty low unemployment and better tourism numbers,” Edward Lee, Singapore-based regional head of rates strategy at Standard Chartered Plc, said before the report. “It is expected that we will see less spending on luxury goods as the global environment is still uncertain.”
Adjusted for seasonal factors, overall retail sales fell 0.6% in November from October, when they rose a revised 6%, today’s report showed. The index measuring purchases excluding automobiles climbed 6.7% from a year earlier after advancing a revised 8.4% in October.
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.
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