KUALA LUMPUR (May 9): Malaysia’s wholesale and retail sales grew 5.2% in March from a year earlier, thanks largely to higher retail sales in non-specialised stores and other specialised wholesale, official data on Thursday showed.
Wholesale and retail trade totalled RM145.7 billion in March, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said in a statement. The pace of sales growth was marginally slower than February’s 5.4% year-on-year growth. On a month-on-month basis, distributive trade climbed 3.3% in March.
The retail sector rose 7.1% to RM62.8 billion and the wholesale segment expanded 4% to RM64.1 billion. Meanwhile, sales in the motor vehicle industry increased 3.2% to RM18.8 billion in March.
The year-on-year growth in retail sales was mainly led by sales in non-specialised stores which grew 8.4% while other specialised wholesale climbed 4.5%, supporting the wholesale sector. The motor vehicle segment growth meanwhile was fuelled by sales of motor vehicles parts and accessories.
On a month-on-month basis, the retail sector grew 2.1% while wholesale trade was up 3% and motor vehicle sales climbed 8.3%.