Minister Says Mydin Is Wrong, Malaysians Have More Money To Spend Due To Strong Economy
Who's right and who's wrong?
By Justin Tan — 08 Feb 2018, 01:15 PM
Rahman Dahlan said that hypermarket sales are not the benchmark of the economic condition of Malaysia and Malaysians' purchasing power
According to Bernama, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan was responding to Managing Director of Mydin, Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin's claim that despite Malaysia's strong economic growth, Malaysians did not have enough money to spend on groceries.
"Malaysia's strong economic growth has clearly benefited the people in terms of rising income and purchasing power which in turn boost private consumption."
Rahman said that private consumption is the biggest contributor to Malaysia’s economy, with a 53.2% share of contribution (RM589.7 billion) to the national GDP.
Rahman cited government statistics that showed hypermarket sales only contribute 8% of total retail sales in the country
"The retail trade in Malaysia has been recording strong growth both in terms of value and volume," he said.
In terms of value, retail trade strengthened by 7.8% in the first quarter of 2017, 11.5% in the second quarter and 10.4% in the third quarter.
In terms of numbers, retail trade in the first 11 months of 2017 increased to RM410.5 billion from RM367.7 billion in the same period in 2016, a growth of 11.6%.
According to Rahman, hypermarkets are facing slower sales because consumers have more places to shop
“The number of non-specialized stores which include hypermarkets, increased from 66,920 establishments (2016) to 73,848 establishments (2017)."
Rahman also suggested the convenience of shopping online has also contributed to people buying less from the hypermarkets and supermarkets
“Some of the hypermarkets in Malaysia have already started to offer online grocery shopping and delivery to their customers."
“Those that have not ventured into the ‘trend’ yet will lose out on the potential gains that come from the thriving online shopping scene.”
The minister claimed Malaysians, in general, have more money to spend as strong domestic tourism figures proves it
In 2016, the expenditure on domestic tourism grew by 10.2% (RM74.8 billion) as compared to RM67.7 billion in 2015.
Shopping remained as the biggest component of domestic tourists’ expenditure, with its share of 35.3%.
Rahman continued, "Malaysian tourists spent RM33.5 billion abroad in 2016, an increase from RM31.1 billion in 2015 despite the depreciating ringgit during that period."