KUALA LUMPUR: The wholesale and retail trade sub-sector sales recorded a growth of 8.2 percent to RM1.25 trillion in 2018 compared with the previous year, says the Department of Statistics (DoS).
In a statement, Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said for the fourth quarter 2018 (4Q18), the volume index expanded 8.1 percent to 173.8 percent as compared to the same period a year ago, mainly driven by the expansion in retail trade by 11.8 percent.
Within the same period, the volume index of wholesale trade and motor vehicles also recorded an increase of 6.2 percent and 1.9 percent respectively.
“For quarterly comparison, the seasonally adjusted volume index of wholesale and retail trade went up by 1.7 percent against the third quarter of 2018, propelled by the wholesale trade and retail trade sub-sectors at 2.6 percent and 1.5 percent respectively,” Mohd Uzir said
The seasonally adjusted volume index of Motor Vehicles contracted by 3.7 percent within the same period.
As for the month of December 2018 the wholesale and retail trade sales value rose eight percent to RM109 billion as compared to the corresponding period of 2017.
–Bernama
