(March 13): Malaysia’s wholesale-and-retail sales grew 5.4% in January from a year earlier led by the wholesale subsector, official data on Wednesday showed.

Wholesale-and-retail trade totaled RM142.4 billion, the Department of Statistics said in a statement. On a month-on-month basis however, sales fell 1.1% in January largely due to contraction in retail and motor vehicle subsectors.

The wholesale trade sub-sector rose 5.5% year-on-year to RM63.7 billion, largely due to other specialised wholesale, followed by wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco and wholesale of household goods.

The motor vehicle segment meanwhile expanded 16% in January to RM17.6 billion compared with the same month in 2023, driven by vehicles sales followed by parts and accessories.

In the retail subsector, trade increased 2.6% in January from a year earlier to RM61.1 billion thanks to higher sales at both specialised and non-specialised stores as well as that of household goods.