By Shamim Adam Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore’s retail sales unexpectedly fell in October as a deteriorating economy prompted consumers to pare spending on vehicles, furniture and clothing. The retail sales index fell 3.6 percent from a year earlier, after a 7.2 percent increase in September, the Statistics Department said today. That compares with the median forecast for a 2.8 percent gain in a Bloomberg News survey of four economists. Excluding vehicles, sales climbed 3.1 percent. The island’s economy has shrunk for two straight quarters and companies such as DBS Group Holdings Ltd. and Parkway Holdings Ltd. have announced job and wage cuts. The government today said employers hired fewer workers than initially estimated last quarter, and job vacancies are falling. “What’s happening in the world is weighing hugely on consumer sentiment and the trend is for more cautious spending,” said Joseph Tan, Asian chief economist at Credit Suisse Group in Singapore. “We are in for a hard Christmas.” Parkway, Singapore’s biggest publicly traded hospital operator, said today it will slash salaries of management by as much as 35 percent and cut its workforce as the global recession deepens. Retail-sale volumes in October decreased 8.5 percent from a year earlier after removing the effect of higher prices, the government said today. Adjusted for seasonal factors, sales fell 2.1 percent from September. Vehicle sales in October dropped 18.7 percent from the same month in 2007. From September, auto sales slid 20 percent, without adjusting for seasonal factors. Purchases of apparel and footwear fell 11.9 percent while sales of furniture and household equipment declined 3.9 percent from a year earlier. To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Singapore at sadam2@bloomberg.net

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