FX.co ★ Malaysia Retail Sales Growth Accelerates to 4.9%

In May 2025, Malaysia experienced a 4.9% year-on-year increase in retail sales, marking an improvement from the 4.7% growth recorded in April, which had been the slowest in 15 months. This growth was largely fueled by stronger sales in several categories: other household equipment saw an increase to 5.6% from 3.6% in April, other goods rose to 5.2% from 4.5%, automotive fuel increased slightly to 5.7% from 5.6%, and sales in sectors not involving traditional stores, stalls, or markets rose to 6.7% from 6.5%. However, there was a slowdown in sales growth for food, beverages, and tobacco, which fell to 6.4% from 7.8%, for information and communication equipment, which declined to 5.3% from 5.5%, and for sales via stalls and markets, which decreased to 6.7% from 8.3%. On a month-over-month basis, retail sales rebounded by 0.5% in May following a 0.3% decline in April. In contrast, wholesale trade growth decelerated to 4.7% from April's 5.5%, and vehicle trade slowed to 1.2%, down from 2.1% in the previous month.