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Tag: Department of Statistics

  • Singapore Retail Sales Growth Slows to 1.5% in July as Luxury Holds Firm

    Singapore Retail Sales Growth Slows to 1.5% in July as Luxury Holds Firm

    Singapore retail sales excluding motor vehicles rose 1.5 per cent year-on-year in July to SG$3.7 billion (US$2.9 billion), slowing from a 4.1 per cent gain in June.

    Official Department of Statistics data released on Monday showed shoppers pared back daily supermarket and fuel spending while sustaining double-digit increases on high-end discretionary items. Online transactions generated 18.3 per cent of total retail turnover during the month.

    Discretionary Spend Defies Inflation

    Recreational goods rose 13.9 per cent year-on-year, propelled by sports equipment purchases. Turnover for watches and jewellery climbed 11.1 per cent over the same period, giving both categories three consecutive months of double-digit expansion.

    Everyday retail categories faced a sharper contraction. Fuel receipts dropped 1.1 per cent in July after an 8.0 per cent expansion in June, reflecting a mid-year drop in pump prices before crude costs picked up again heading into late third-quarter trading. Supermarkets, convenience stores, mini-marts, and food and alcohol retailers all posted annual revenue declines.

    Right now, this is a market where retailers serving the masses are struggling, while those attracting the wealthy thrive.

    Josh Gilbert, lead analyst for Apac at Etoro, noted that households have adjusted their budgets around elevated living expenses by cutting routine spending to protect big-ticket purchases.

    Department Stores Squeezed

    Department stores suffered their sixth contraction in seven months. The persistent slide exposes structural problems for general merchandise retailers competing against specialized mono-brand stores on one side and cross-border e-commerce platforms on the other.

    Landlords across central shopping corridors face an increasingly split tenant base. Prime retail space dedicated to athleisure, fitness gear, and hard luxury continues to deliver higher sales densities, while suburban grocery anchors and legacy multi-brand floors yield lower turnover rents.

    Distortions and the Next Baseline

    Part of the drag on staple retail reflects a high comparative base from July 2025, when households spent state-issued SG60 vouchers across neighborhood stores and supermarkets.

    August retail numbers will reveal whether renewed oil price volatility and the complete runoff of previous fiscal stimulus further weaken food receipts, ahead of fourth-quarter lease renegotiations across major shopping mall portfolios.

  • Singapore Core Inflation Accelerates to 2% in July on Rising Utilities

    Singapore Core Inflation Accelerates to 2% in July on Rising Utilities

    Singapore core consumer inflation accelerated to 2 per cent in July, driven by higher utility bills alongside rising food and service costs.

    The figure climbed from 1.6 per cent in June, logging the highest reading since October 2024, according to figures released by the Department of Statistics. Even with the pickup, the print remained below the 2.2 per cent median estimate projected in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

    Surging energy and food expenses

    Utility bills served as the primary catalyst for the monthly increase. Electricity and gas costs surged 8.7 per cent year on year in July, reversing a 2.9 per cent contraction recorded previously.

    Headline inflation, which includes accommodation and private transport alongside underlying consumer goods, climbed to 2.2 per cent from 1.9 per cent in June. Rising housing expenditures contributed to that broader increase alongside the pickup in core categories.

    Margin pressures for local operators

    For retail tenants, food outlets, and service providers across the island, sharper utility swings immediately feed into commercial overheads. Higher operating power expenses arrive just as consumer baskets adjust to persistent service inflation, testing pricing flexibility across dining and discretionary retail.

    Market attention now turns to upcoming third-quarter monetary policy reviews, with operators watching whether central bank settings adjust to keep import costs and service inflation anchored.

  • Consumer prices fall for 21st straight month in July

    Consumer prices fall for 21st straight month in July

    Consumer prices fell further in July, marking the 21st straight month of decline, according to data released by the Department of Statistics on Tuesday (Aug 23).

    The consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.7 per cent last month, unchanged from the previous month, as a smaller decline in the cost of private road transport offset the impact of lower retail goods prices, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said in a joint statement.

    Private road transport costs fell by 4.4 per cent, compared to the 5.7 per cent decrease a month earlier, largely due to a smaller decline in car prices from a year ago.

    Prices of retail goods fell 0.2 per cent, compared to an increase of 0.5 per cent in June. This was mainly because of steeper discounts on clothing and footwear during the Great Singapore Sale, MAS and MTI said.

    Services inflation was 1.6 per cent, unchanged from the previous month. While the cost of education services rose more sharply, this was offset by a slower pace of increase in holiday travel expenses.

    Food prices rose 2.1 per cent in July. Although there was a stronger pickup in the cost of non-cooked food items, it was offset by a smaller increase in the price of restaurant food.

    The cost of electricity, liquefied petroleum gas and gas fell by 12.7 per cent, compared to the 13.7 per cent decline in June. This was due to a smaller decrease in electricity tariffs on a year-ago basis, the agencies said.

    Core Inflation, which excludes the costs of accommodation and private road transport, fell slightly to 1 per cent from 1.1 per cent in June, due to the fall in retail goods prices.

    Ms Selena Ling, Head of Treasury and Strategy at OCBC Bank, said that the main drags on inflation were familiar.

    “Looking ahead, with headline inflation having likely troughed in the second quarter and likely to creep higher in the coming months, we maintain our full-year inflation forecast of -0.4 percent year-on-year,” she said.

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