Singapore's retail sales went up 0.1 percent year-on-year in May, compared to a re-calculated 0.6-percent growth in April, partially due to lower motor vehicle sales, the Department of Statistics of Singapore said on Thursday.

The retail sales grew also by 0.1 percent month-on-month on a seasonally adjusted basis in May, compared to a 0.2-percent month-on-month decrease in the previous month.

The authority said excluding motor vehicles, retail sales of this May rose 2.2 percent year-on-year and 0.4 percent month-on-month.

Singapore's total retail sales value in May was estimated at 3.8 billion Singapore dollars (about 2.79 billion U.S. dollars). The estimated proportion of online retail sales to total retail sales is around 4.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the sales of food and beverage services increased 1.2 percent year-on-year and 0.6 percent month -on-month. The sales value was estimated at 681 million Singapore dollars (about 499.87 million U.S. dollars) in May.