KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Malaysia's services sector grew 32.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to RM517.4 billion in the third quarter of 2022 (Q3), and 2.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter to RM10.9 billion, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

It said total revenue for wholesale and retail trade, food and beverages (F&B), and accommodation segments rose 33.4 per cent to RM417.8 billion versus a year ago, contributed by the wholesale and retail trade sub-sector, which rose 32.3 per cent to RM97.2 billion; F&B (RM5.0 billion; 42 per cent), and accommodation (RM2.4 billion; 346.3 per cent).

The average occupancy rate (AOR) for accommodation jumped to 56.2 per cent against 20.7 per cent the same quarter a year earlier due to higher demand for hill (AOR: 91.4 per cent), beach (AOR: 53.9 per cent), and town (AOR: 48 per cent) accommodation.

The information and communication, and transportation and storage segments recorded revenue increases of 23.9 per cent to RM73.4 billion YoY driven by transportation and storage (RM11.8 billion) which rose 55.3 per cent.

Combined revenue growth from health, education, arts, entertainment and recreation segments totalled RM15.9 billion, a 45.5 per cent increase against a year earlier with a 515.5 per cent rise in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector totalling RM3.7 billion, while private health sub-sector improved 12.2 per cent to RM0.7 billion.

The professional and real estate agent segment recorded RM10.3 billion, a 37.3 per cent growth against Q3 of 2021 driven by the professional sub-sector (RM2.7 billion; 37.9 per cent) and real estate agents (RM131.2 million; 27.9 per cent).

The services sector provided jobs for 3.8 million over the period, a 4.4 per cent YoY, while salaries and wages grew 8.7 per cent increase or RM2.1 billion YoY. On a quarterly basis, salaries and wages grew 1.2 per cent to RM26.2 billion in the Q3 of 2022.

E-commerce income registered a 3.7 per cent growth to RM289.2 billion YoY but saw a marginal 0.3 per cent rise QoQ.

DoSM said the Volume Index of Services rose by 23.1 per cent to 140.4 points versus 114.1 points in Q3 2021 with contributions from wholesale and retail trade, F&B and accommodation which saw a combined 30 per cent growth, business services and finance segment (15.7 per cent), information and communication and transportation and storage (17.1 per cent) and other services segment (35.9 per cent).

Quarterly, the Volume Index of Services expanded 3.0 per cent to 140.4 points against 136.3 points in Q2 of 2022 due to growth in wholesale and retail trade, F&B, and accommodation (1.9 per cent), business services and finance (6.4 per cent), information and communication and transportation and storage segment (1.5 per cent) and other services (3.4 per cent).

This sector's seasonally adjusted volume index increased 0.6 per cent to 142.0 points in Q3. — Bernama