Retail sales in Malaysia increased by 8.5 percent year-on-year in February 2019, slowing from a 10.6 percent rise in the prior month. It was the smallest gain in retail trade since April last year, as sales growth eased for both sale in non-specialized stores (9.4 percent vs 13.9 percent in January) and other goods in specialized stores (10.2 percent vs 12.1 percent). Also, wholesale rose softer (5.8 percent from 6.2 percent). At the same time, sales of motor vehicles went up 2.4 percent, easing from a 4.8 percent rise in the preceding month. On a monthly basis, retail trade declined 3.0 percent, after a 1.8 percent fall in January. Retail Sales Yoy in Malaysia averaged 9.86 percent from 2013 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 14.80 percent in August of 2018 and a record low of 5.90 percent in July of 2015.
Retail Sales Yoy in Malaysia is expected to be 7.70 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Retail Sales Yoy in Malaysia to stand at 7.30 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Malaysia Retail Sales YoY is projected to trend around 6.90 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.