Here's what to blame for worse-than-expected retail sales in July

Sales plunged by 7.8%.

According to OSK, retail sales in July dropped sharper-than-expected 7.8% compared with a year earlier, as sales of motor vehicles were hit by the implementation of the total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) framework at the end of June.

Here's more:

Stripping out vehicle sales - which plunged 42.7% from the same month a year ago and 19.7% m-o-m - retail sales for July increased 2.5%. On a m-o-m, seasonally adjusted basis, retail sales fell 5.3% in July, and were down 2.6% after excluding vehicle sales.

The ministry of Manpower's labour market survey for Q2 showed that overall unemployment rate increased slightly to 2.1% in June, from 1.9% in March.

Total employment increased by 33,700 in Q2, higher than the gains of 28,900 in the previous quarter and 31,700 in Q2 2012.

Apart from motor vehicles, retail categories which posted lower y-o-y sales in July included telecommunications apparatus and computers (-7%), recreational goods (-3%) and wearing apparel and footwear (-2.4%). Sales of F&B services increased 2.1% y-o-y in July but slipped 1.6% m-o-m (seasonally adjusted).

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