KUALA LUMPUR (July 12): Malaysia's wholesale and retail trade value rose 6.8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM110.8 billion in May 2019, thanks to the Aidilfitri festive season promotional campaigns.

In a statement today, chief statistician of the Department of Statistics Malaysia, Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase in May was mainly contributed by sales of motor vehicles and retail trade, which expanded 9.1 per cent y-o-y and 7.8 per cent y-o-y respectively.

On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, he said the wholesale and retail trade value expanded 5.1 per cent against April 2019.

"All sub-sectors experienced positive growth in May 2019 after recording negative growth in April 2019.

"The expansion was underpinned by the higher sales of motor vehicles which increased 8.8 per cent m-o-m due to Aidilfitri festive season promotional campaigns," he said.

This was followed by retail trade which added 5.3 per cent m-o-m and wholesale trade which achieved a growth of 4.2 per cent from April 2019, he added.

In terms of volume index, Mohd Uzir said wholesale and retail trade posted an increase of 6.2 per cent y-o-y in May 2019.

"The gain was propelled by motor vehicles sales volume which expanded 9.1 per cent y-o-y and retail trade which improved 8.4 per cent y-o-y respectively," he said, adding that wholesale trade volume also grew 3.5 per cent y-o-y in May 2019.