KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 — Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade sales grew 12.8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM407.4 billion in the first quarter (1Q) of 2023, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the RM46.4 billion increase was underpinned by the retail trade sub-sector which expanded 19.5 per cent, or RM28.8 billion, to RM176.4 billion.
“This was followed by wholesale trade which rose 5.5 per cent, or RM9.4 billion, to reach RM181.1 billion and motor vehicles which grew 19.4 per cent, or RM8.1 billion, to record RM49.9 billion in this quarter,” he said in a statement today.
For the month of March 2023, Mohd Uzir said wholesale and retail trade sales grew 11.9 per cent y-o-y to RM138.5 billion, attributed to the retail trade sub-sector which saw a 17.7 per cent, or RM8.8 billion, increase in sales to RM58.7 billion.
“Wholesale trade also expanded by 7.6 per cent, or RM4.4 billion, to RM61.6 billion. Within the same period, motor vehicles (sales) rose 9.3 per cent, or RM1.5 billion, to RM18.2 billion,” he said.
For a month-on-month (m-o-m) comparison, wholesale and retail trade sales grew 3.5 per cent, supported by wholesale trade with a 4.1 per cent growth, motor vehicles (10.6 per cent), and retail trade (0.9 per cent).
Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said the index of retail sales over the Internet for March 2023 recorded an 11.7 per cent growth y-o-y (February 2023: 9.4 per cent).
“For seasonally adjusted value, the index contracted -0.1 per cent as against the previous month,” he said.
In terms of volume index, the wholesale and retail trade for March 2023 registered a y-o-y growth of 9.4 per cent.
“The expansion was attributed to retail trade with double-digit growth of 13.8 per cent. Wholesale trade and motor vehicles also recorded positive growth of 6.7 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively.
“For the seasonally adjusted volume index, it went down 0.9 per cent m-o-m,” Mohd Uzir said.
— Bernama
