Singapore: Singapore's retail sales fell more than economists forecast in December as motor-vehicle purchases slumped after the government gave out fewer permits for cars, motorcycles, vans and lorries.
The retail sales index slid 5 per cent from a year earlier after falling a revised 1.7 per cent in November, the Statistics Department said Friday. The median estimate of five economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 1 per cent decline.
Sales may rise in the coming months as the opening of Singapore's two casino resorts attracts more tourists. Genting Singapore Plc, the unit of Asia's largest publicly traded gambling operator, will open the country's first casino on February 14. Las Vegas Sands Corp says it may open the Marina Bay Sands on the island in April.
"The unfavourable impact from car sales as a result of fewer permits being issued last year will dissipate in 2010," Alvin Liew, an economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Singapore, said before the report. "With the opening of the casino resorts this year, we are likely to see a recovery in retail sales."
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Singapore controls pollution and congestion on its roads by selling a limited number of permits every year for each category of vehicles. The government said it will issue 83,789 vehicle permits from May 2009 to April 2010, compared with 110,354 in the prior 12-month period.
The country aims to lure 17 million visitors and triple annual tourism revenue to S$30 billion (Dh77.97 billion) by 2015, helped by the two casino resorts. Visitor arrivals reached 9.7 million last year, exceeding forecasts for as many as 9.5 million tourists, according to the Singapore Tourism Board.
Singapore employers are increasing hiring as the economy improves, according to a Ministry of Manpower report last month. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 2.1 per cent in the three months ended December from 3.4 per cent in the previous quarter and the city state added 38,700 new jobs in the last three months of 2009.
Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales rose 3 per cent in December from a year earlier, after a revised 3.5 per cent gain in November, Friday's report showed. Adjusted for seasonal factors, sales slid 0.9 percent from November.
Department-store sales by companies including Metro Holdings dropped 0.5 per cent from a year earlier, and supermarket sales fell by the same amount. Vehicle sales plunged 27.2 per cent, while purchases at gas stations advanced 9 per cent.
