Singapore's March retail sales growth slowed, according to preliminary figures released by the Department of Statistics on Friday. The year-on-year sales increase was 2.7 percent, a significant cooling from February's 8.6 percent rise. However, this marked the third consecutive month of growth.
Without counting car sales, Singapore's retail sales growth was 2.0 percent, compared to 9.5 percent in February. The food and alcohol sector saw an impressive increase of 17.0 percent, while the watch and jewellery industries experienced a 14.1 percent uptick in sales from the previous year. However, the industries saw slower rates of growth overall.
Sales at supermarkets and hypermarkets modestly rose by 1.2 percent. In contrast, sales for computer and telecommunications equipment dipped by 5.1 percent. The data also revealed that online sales in March accounted for 11.7 percent of total retail sales.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales declined by 1.0 percent in March, following a 3.0 percent bounce back in February. Meanwhile, the food and beverage services sector reported a 5.0 percent annual growth in March, down from 14.8 percent in the earlier month.