Illustrative image (Photo: congan.com.vn) Hanoi (VNA) - The total revenue from retail trade and services saw a year-on-year rise of 10 percent, to 15 billion USD in January, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
Excluding inflation, the amount marked a yearly increase of 6.7 percent, GSO said.
Vu Manh Ha, a GSO statistician, attributed the strong growth in January’s retail trade to stable prices despite local people’s high consumption power in preparation for the Tet holiday and supermarkets’ sufficient sources of consumer goods for the country’s biggest festival.
Retail sales 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 previous month and 11 percent against the same period last year.
Several sectors recording a positive revenue increase included food and foodstuffs (up 13 percent); textile and garments (up 11.5 percent); transport services (up 11.2 percent) and home appliances (up 7.8 percent).
Meanwhile, retail sales in accommodation, restaurant and catering services, which made up 11.3 percent of the total, topped more than 1.64 billion USD, representing a modest yearly rise of 3 percent.
Some localities that posted encouraging accommodation, restaurant and catering retail 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, down by 12.4 percent and HCM City and Nam Dinh, down by 5.3 percent.
In the first month of this year, revenue from tourism services also saw significant growth of 30.7 percent to 155 million USD with some provinces and cities recording strong growth, such as HCM City and Ba Ria – Vung Tau (33 percent) and Quang Ninh (23 percent).
The reviewed strong increase was attributable to seasonal factors and a growing tendency of Vietnamese travelling abroad during the Tet holiday, GSO noted.
The sales of other services during the month reached over 1.67 billion USD, a hike of 9.3 percent compared to a year ago.-VNA
VNA
