KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 2022 — Malaysia’s overall economic performance is still intact reflected by the positive trajectory registered by several key economic indicators in May 2022 compared with the previous year, the Department of Statistic Malaysia (DoSM) said.
“The transition to the endemic phase and the government’s fruitful action in the economic recovery has influenced the trade performance with total trade in May 2022 rose by 33.6 per cent to RM228.4 billion from RM170.9 billion in May 2021,” said Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin.
In a statement following the release of its Malaysian Economic Statistics Review (MESR) Vol 7/2022 publication today. Mohd Uzir said exports increased by 30.5 per cent to RM120.5 billion while imports grew by 37.3 per cent to RM107.9 billion.
Besides, the total trade performance continued its growth momentum in June 2022 with a value of RM270.4 billion and subsequently recorded a growth of 43.4 per cent from RM188.5 billion in the same period of the preceding year, he said.
According to him, the Industrial Production Index (IPI) rose moderately at 4.1 per cent in May 2022 as compared with the same month last year backed by the increment in the manufacturing index (6.9 per cent) and electricity index (2.8 per cent).
Mohd Uzir said the full blast of Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration this year after experiencing two years of stringent social and economic containment measures had resulted in wholesale and retail trade sales soaring by 19.9 per cent year-on-year to RM129.8 billion in May 2022.
“The growth was driven by Retail Trade sub-sector which increased by RM13 billion or 29.9 per cent to RM56.3 billion followed by wholesale trade and motor vehicles which surged by 11.7 per cent to RM59.6 billion and 20.1 per cent to RM13.9 billion, respectively,” he added.
On price indices, he said more costly food prices accelerated Malaysia’s inflation in May 2022 which increased 2.8 per cent to 126.6 against 123.1 in the same month of the preceding year.
According to him, the incline in headline inflation was mainly due to the rise in the food and non-alcoholic beverages group (5.2 per cent) as compared with the same month of the preceding year which posted the highest increase since November 2011.
In June 2022, Malaysia’s inflation increased by 3.4 per cent compared to the previous year, he added.
— Akses Malaysia