Illustrative image (Photo: congan.com.vn) Hanoi (VNA) - The total revenue from retail trade and services saw ayear-on-year rise of 10 percent, to 15 billion USD in January, according to theGeneral Statistics Office (GSO).
Excludinginflation, the amount marked a yearly increase of 6.7 percent, GSO said.
VuManh Ha, a GSO statistician, attributed the strong growth in January’s retailtrade to stable prices despite local people’s high consumption power inpreparation for the Tet holiday andsupermarkets’ sufficient sources of consumer goods for the country’s biggestfestival.
Retailsales of goods, which accounted for more than three fourths of total sales,reached 11.5 billion USD in January, surging 6.5 percent against the previousmonth and 11 percent against the same period last year.
Severalsectors recording a positive revenue increase included food and foodstuffs (up13 percent); textile and garments (up 11.5 percent); transport services (up11.2 percent) and home appliances (up 7.8 percent).
Meanwhile,retail sales in accommodation, restaurant and catering services, which made up11.3 percent of the total, topped more than 1.64 billion USD, representing amodest yearly rise of 3 percent.
Somelocalities that posted encouraging accommodation, restaurant and cateringretail sale growth included Ba Ria- Vung Tau with 12 percent, Thanh Hoa (8.6 percent);Kien Giang (7.4 percent); Hanoi (5.7 percent) and Da Nang (5.2 percent). Several others, however, witnessed a sales reduction, such as Quang Binh, downby 12.4 percent and HCM City and Nam Dinh, down by 5.3 percent.
Inthe first month of this year, revenue from tourism services also saw significantgrowth of 30.7 percent to 155 million USD with some provinces and citiesrecording strong growth, such as HCM City and Ba Ria – Vung Tau (33 percent)and Quang Ninh (23 percent).
Thereviewed strong increase was attributable to seasonal factors and a growing tendency ofVietnamese travelling abroad during the Tet holiday, GSO noted.
Thesales of other services during the month reached over 1.67 billion USD, a hikeof 9.3 percent compared to a year ago.-VNA
VNA
