KUALA LUMPUR (April 10): Malaysia’s total sales for wholesale and retail trade grew 5.3% to RM109 billion in February, contributed mainly by the retail sub-sector, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

Year on year, this was lower than the 6.5% growth recorded in February 2019, the department noted.

In a statement today, chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said sales of retail trade grew by 6.3% in February while wholesale trade increased by 4.9%. Sales value for motor vehicles also expanded 3.5%, he added.

Month on month, the sales value posted a negative growth of 5.1%. Mohd Uzir said the negative growth was contributed by all sub-sectors, namely motor vehicles, wholesale trade and retail trade of 9.4%, 5.4% and 3.4% respectively.

In terms of volume, the wholesale and retail trade grew 5.4% year on year, driven by retail trade, which expanded 6.4%, followed by wholesale trade (4.9%) and motor vehicles (3.6%).

Month on month, based on the seasonally adjusted volume index, there was a negative growth of -0.6% as against a 0.5% growth in January, it said.