KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade surged 66.2 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM111.1 billion in April 2021 from 36.6 per cent in April 2020, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said although this was the highest annual increase recorded, it reflected a recovery from the steep fall in April last year after a month of the first movement control order.
“Therefore (the performance for April 2021) should be interpreted with caution,” he said in a statement today.
Recovering from the extremely low level of April 2020, Mohd Uzir said the sub-sector that contributed the most was retail trade, which increased 56.4 per cent y-o-y to RM44.3 billion, followed by wholesale trade which expanded 40.5 per cent y-o-y to RM53 billion.
“Motor vehicles also showed an uptick with an increase of 1,551.3 per cent y-o-y to RM13.8 billion,” he said.
On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, Mohd Uzir said the sales value decreased 1.5 per cent in April 2021.
In comparison with April 2019, which was before the Covid-19 pandemic, Mohd Uzir said wholesale and retail trade sales also showed positive growth of 5.4 per cent.
“This was driven by the extra consumers’ disposable income due to withdrawal of i-Sinar, i-Lestari and the increase in commodity prices, such as palm oil and rubber,” he said, adding that vehicle sales tax exemption incentives also continued to motivate the purchase of motor vehicles.
In terms of volume index, Mohd Uzir said wholesale and retail trade registered a y-o-y growth of 71.5 per cent.
He said the expansion was supported by motor vehicles which jumped 1,687.4 per cent y-o-y.
“This was followed by retail trade and wholesale trade with a growth of 63.5 per cent and 43.0 per cent, respectively,” he said.
As for seasonal adjusted volume index, he said it rose 5.1 per cent m-o-m. — Bernama
