It said this was worse than the market expectation as members of the Malaysia Retailers Association and Malaysia Retail Chain Association had projected a Q3 decline of only 15.1%.

In a report, RGM said the reason for the drop was because most retailers were forced to shut down during the first half of Q3 this year.

It, however, expected the growth rate to recover as restrictions eased and with the population fully vaccinated.

It projected 6.0% growth in retail sales for 2022 but said challenges such as the new Omicron variant, high daily positive cases and the government delaying the transition to an endemic phase, remained a concern.

For the recent third quarter, fashion and fashion accessories were the hardest hit, with a decline of 63.6%

Mini-markets and convenience stores were the only sub-sectors to see growth in the quarter, registering an increase of 2.6%.