Food
Retail sales in Singapore dropped 3.2 per cent in February from the same month a year ago, defying economists’ predictions for an expansion in consumer spending and providing more evidence of a slowing economy.
The retail sales contraction followed the revised 7.6 per cent growth in January, said the Department of Statistics yesterday, and was in contrast to the 3.4 per cent increase forecast by 12 economists in a Bloomberg poll. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales slumped by 9.6 per cent as all but three out of 13 segments that make up the index fell.
From the previous month, retail sales rose 1.7 per cent in February; excluding motor vehicles, they fell 1.1 per cent, showed the Department of Statistics data.
