KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 8): Malaysia's services sector revenue surged 6.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) to a record-breaking RM607.1 billion in the second quarter of 2024 (2Q2024), according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the growth was driven by a favourable performance of the wholesale and retail trade, food and beverages and accommodation segment, which recorded a 6.4% revenue growth y-o-y, compared with 5.9% y-o-y in 2Q2023.

This segment was the biggest contributor to services sector revenue at RM461.4 billion, followed by the information and communications as well as transportation and storage segment (RM84.3 billion; up 6.1% y-o-y).

Mohd Uzir said the professional, real estate, as well as administrative and support services segment also showed robust revenue growth of 10.2% to RM39.5 billion.

The private healthcare, private education, arts, entertainment and recreation, and other personal services segment saw a notable increase of 12.4% to RM21.8 billion.

Meanwhile, e-commerce income recorded a 7.8% growth in 2Q2024, the biggest y-o-y growth in five quarters, to RM302.4 billion.

Mohd Uzir said the number of persons engaged in this sector stood at 4.5 million, an increase of 1.7% y-o-y.

This growth was led by the wholesale and retail trade sub-sector, which saw an increase of 2.3%, followed by the transportation and storage sub-sector at 3.6%.

Total salaries and wages increased 3.5% y-o-y to RM32.6 billion, attributed to the wholesale and retail trade as well as transportation and storage sub-sectors, Mohd Uzir added. 

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