Singapore's retail sales up 15.8 pct year-on-year in Feb.

Singapore's retail sales increased 15.8 percent in February on a year-on-year basis, mainly due to retail sales of food and beverages, department stores and supermarkets over the Chinese New Year, said the Department of Statistics Singapore (SingStat) on Wednesday.

Retail sales increased 14.8 percent compared with a year ago except motor vehicles, said SingStat. However, retail sales fell by 3.3 percent in February on a month-on-month basis. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales remained unchanged.

The total retail sales value in February was estimated at 3.4 billion Singapore dollars, higher than 3 billion Singapore dollars in February in 2014.

Sales of food and beverage services increased 2.0 percent in February 2015 over the previous month. Compared to the same period in 2014, sales of food and beverage services rose 3.2 percent in February 2015.

The total sales value of food and beverage services in February 2015 was estimated at 657 million Singapore dollars, higher than the 637 million Singapore dollars in the same period of 2014.

The Retail Sales Index and the Food and Beverage Services Index measure the short-term performance of retail and Food and Beverage service industries based on their sales records. The sales figures exclude taxes. Endi