KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 — Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade value grew 5.7 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM112.5 billion in July 2019, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

In a statement today, chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin attributed the growth to wholesale trade, which increased 6.6 per cent y-o-y to RM52.4 billion, followed by retail trade, which improved 7.1 per cent y-o-y to RM46.5billion.

However, he said motor vehicles growth decreased 1.7 per cent y-o-y to RM13.6 billion due to motor vehicles sales, which registered a negative growth of 5.8 per cent y-o-y.

For the wholesale trade, Mohd Uzir said the expansion was supported by wholesale transactions of agricultural raw materials and live animals (up 9.0 per cent y-o-y), wholesale transactions of food, beverages and tobacco (up 7.2 per cent y-o-y) and other specialised wholesale transactions (up 7.0 per cent y-o-y).

On retail trade growth, Mohd Uzir said the sub-sector was driven by retail sale of food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores (up 10.5 per cent y-o-y), retail sale of other goods in specialised stores (up 8.2 per cent y-o-y), and retail sale in non-specialised stores (up 8.1 per cent y-o-y). — Bernama