Local people shop for vegetables (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Vietnam’s total revenue from retailsales and services in the first half of this year has maintained high growthsince the beginning of the year, according to the General Statistics Office(GSO).
Retail goods and services posted a revenue of nearly 2.12quadrillion VND (94 billion USD) in the first six months of 2018, ayear-on-year rise of 10.7 percent. If inflation was excluded, the increasewould be 8.3 percent, higher than the 7.9 percent growth seen in the first fivemonths of 2017, the GSO said.
An abundant supply of essential goods and stable prices hadspurred local trade and lifted purchasing power during the period, Vu Manh Ha,a GSO statistician, said.
Retail sales of goods, which accounted for 75.3 percent ofthe total revenue, reached an estimated 1.59 quadrillion VND (70.9 billion USD)with several products recording strong increases, including food and foodstuffs(12.4 percent), garments (12.3 percent), home appliances (12 percent) andtransport services (8.8 percent).
Meanwhile, retail sales in accommodation, restaurants andcatering services saw a yearly increase of 9.6 percent to 260.9 trillion VND (11.5billion USD), with the central coastal provinces of Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh and DaNang, the Central Highlands city of Da Lat and the northern province of QuangNinh leading the way.
From January to June, revenue from tourism services alsorecorded significant on-year growth of 19.5 percent to 19.6 trillion VND (860million USD) thanks to a rising numbers of local tourists and those travelingabroad.
Vietnam’s visa exemption policy for several Western Europeancountries and the country’s domestic and overseas tourism promotion campaignshad also prompted tourism service revenue to grow, the GSO said, outlining someprovinces and cities that recorded encouraging growth, such as Ca Mau (29 percent),HCM City (24.3 percent), Quang Ninh (18 percent) and Hanoi (14 percent).
Sales of other services during the six months hit 243trillion VND (over 11 billion USD), a jump of 7.3 percent compared to a yearago.- VNS/VNA
VNA
