KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade grew by 7.7 per cent year-on-year to RM120.5 billion in January 2022.

The growth was attributed to retail trade subsector, which recorded a positive growth of 7.3 per cent to RM49 billion, said the Department of Statistics (DoSM) today. 

In a statement today, chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said wholesale trade also expanded by 5.7 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM58.6 billion, while motor vehicles surged 19.4 per cent y-o-y to RM12.9 billion.

"However, on a month-on-month (m-o-m) comparison, sales value of wholesale and retail trade slipped 0.2 per cent, due to motor vehicles sub-sector which contracted 11.5 per cent,” he added. 

Mohd Uzir said the retail trade sub-sector’s growth in January 2022 was supported by retail sales in non-specialised stores, which expanded by 10.1 per cent or RM1.7 billion to RM18.2 billion.

Likewise, other groups in the sub-sector also recorded positive growth, including retail sales of automotive fuels (+19.5 per cent), retail sales of household goods (+7.1 per cent), retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco (+8.4 per cent) as well as retail sales of cultural and recreation goods (+5.0 per cent).

He also noted that the index of retail sale over the internet for January 2022 recorded a 20.5 per cent growth y-o-y.

In terms of volume, wholesale and retail trade for January 2022 registered a y-o-y growth of 3.6 per cent, attributed to the motor vehicles sub-sector which increased 16.3 per cent. — Bernama