Malaysia's retail sales hit all-time high growth rate of 62.5 pct in Q2

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's retail industry recorded an all-time high growth rate of 62.5 percent in retail sales in the second quarter, as compared to the same period in 2021, said Retail Group Malaysia (RGM) on Thursday.

This very promising result was attributed to three main factors - Hari Raya festival, relaxation of COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) as well as the forced closures of many retail shops in May and June last year, RGM said in a statement.

This latest quarterly result was far beyond the market expectation as Malaysia Retailers Association (MRA) and Malaysia Retail Chain Association (MRCA) in June estimated an average growth rate of 25.7 percent for the second quarter.

Members of the two associations are highly confident of their retail prospects for the next three months, and they projected an average growth rate of 61.7 percent in retail sales during the third quarter.

RGM also revised the third quarter estimate upwards to 50 percent from 3.4 percent due to large contractions during the third quarters of 2020 and 2021.

The fourth quarter estimate, however, has been revised downwards to 1 percent from 3.6 percent due to the previous high base, as well as the current challenges of the Malaysian retail industry.

As for the full year, RGM revised Malaysia retail industry growth rate to 31.7 percent from 13.1 percent previously as Malaysia retail industry has stepped off from the COVID-19 wave.