Services sector revenue up 1.5% y-o-y in 1Q2020 — DoSM
12 May 2020
The services sector’s revenue rose 1.5 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM437.8 billion in the first quarter of 2020 (1Q2020), said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
Chief statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the growth was driven by wholesale and retail trade, food and beverages, as well as the accommodation segment, which increased 1.5 per cent y-o-y to RM347.3 billion.
Apart from that, he said the growth was also contributed by the information, communication, transportation and storage segment, which rose 1.4 per cent y-o-y to RM63.9 billion, as well as the professional and real estate agent segment, which climbed five per cent y-o-y to RM9.8 billion.
“However, the health, education and arts, entertainment and recreation segment fell 0.6 per cent y-o-y to RM16.8 billion,” he said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, on a quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) basis, Mohd Uzir said total revenue for the services sector decreased by 4.7 per cent, or RM21.4 billion, to RM437.8 billion in 1Q2020 from 4Q2019.
He said the services sector’s performance in 1Q2020 indicated the lowest growth since 1Q2013.
“The enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) due to the COVID-19 outbreak is expected to have a more significant impact in the coming quarter,” he said.
According to Mohd Uzir, the number of persons engaged in the sector in 1Q2020 was 3.7 million persons, a one per cent increase compared with 1Q2019.
The growth was driven by the wholesale and retail trade, food and beverages, as well as accommodation segment, which saw an increase of 30,673 persons or 1.1 per cent, he said.
However, he noted that the number of persons engaged slid 1.6 per cent q-o-q to 3.75 million persons.
Mohd Uzir said in 1Q2020, salaries and wages paid was RM25.0 billion, an increase of 1.4 per cent versus 1Q2019, but it went down 3.4 per cent when compared with 4Q2019.
Source: Bernama
