KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 — Malaysia’s services sector revenue recorded double-digit growth of 14.9 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM528.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q 2022) compared to the corresponding quarter in 2021, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the growth was driven by the wholesale and retail trade, food and beverages, and accommodation segments, which rose 15 per cent to RM425.8 billion.
“These were followed by the information and communication, and transportation and storage segments, (as well as) the private health, private education, and arts, entertainment and recreation segments, which grew 13.1 per cent and 14.4 per cent to RM75.8 billion and RM16.4 billion respectively,” he said in the Quarterly Services Statistics, Fourth Quarter 2022 report released today.
The total revenue of the services sector in 2022 stood at RM2 trillion, which was a 20.3-per cent increase compared to RM1.7 trillion in the year before.
Mohd Uzir noted that last year’s revenue exceeded the pre-pandemic value of RM1.8 trillion in 2019 by 13.7 per cent.
“This performance was contributed by the wholesale and retail trade, information and communication, and private health sub-sectors, which respectively increased by 17.2 per cent, 16.6 per cent and 17.6 per cent compared to 2019.
“However, there are sub-sectors that have not yet surpassed the pre-pandemic revenue value (namely) food and beverage (-8.4 per cent), accommodation (-18.8 per cent) and arts, entertainment and recreation (-35.8 per cent),” he said.
This is attributable to the number of international arrivals to Malaysia being in the recovery phase after the opening of international borders on April 1, 2022, and yet to surpass the pre-pandemic levels.
Additionally, e-commerce income grew by 4.1 per cent y-o-y in 4Q 2022 to RM302.3 billion compared to the corresponding quarter in the year before, whereas on a quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) basis, a 4.5-per cent rise was recorded versus the third quarter of 2022 (3Q 2022).
DOSM also said that in terms of sub-sector analysis, the wholesale and retail trade sub-sector recorded the highest increment with RM50.7 billion, or 14.3 per cent y-o-y, followed by the transportation and storage (28.1 per cent), and the food and beverages (23.4 per cent) sub-sectors, to record RM34.5 billion and RM17.2 billion respectively.
For the q-o-q comparison, total revenue in the 4Q 2022 increased by 2.2 per cent to RM11.3 billion, propelled by the growth in the wholesale and retail trade (1.8 per cent) and the transportation and storage (4.1 per cent) sub-sectors.
Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said 3.84 million persons were engaged in the services sector, an increase of three per cent or 111,400 persons y-o-y, whereas on a q-o-q basis, it rose by 0.6 per cent to 21,400 persons.
The increase came mainly from the wholesale and retail trade sub-sector (+3.4 per cent, 64,600 persons) and the transportation and storage sub-sector (+7.5 per cent, 25,000 persons).
Additionally, DOSM said that salaries and wages paid recorded an increase of RM1.5 billion or 5.9 per cent y-o-y, driven by the wholesale and retail trade (+4.6 per cent) and the transportation and storage (+9.5 per cent) sub-sectors, whereas, for the q-o-q comparison, it grew 1.1 per cent to register RM26.4 billion in the 4Q 2022.
— Bernama
