Trade continued to shine in the economic picture in the first four months of this year, the Vietnam Economic News reported on May 20, adding that both domestic and foreign trade maintained a high growth.

A 5.5 percent increase in domestic purchasing power showed the real growth of the domestic market. According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), total retail sales of goods and service revenue reached almost 940 trillion VND in the first four months of 2014, up 10.5 percent from the same period last year. Excluding prices, growth reached 5.5 percent.

Meanwhile, total retail sales of goods and service revenue in the first four months of 2013 were 4.7 percent more than the same time in 2012, while the consumer price index (CPI) grew an average of 4.73 percent per month. The 5.5 percent increase was considerably higher than the growth of gold and US dollar prices.

Economic analysts said that this should be viewed as initially encouraging results of inflation control and macroeconomic stability in 2014.

The achievements were attributed to the bumper winter-spring rice crop, large seafood catches and effective cattle and poultry disease control. Food and food stuff price stability was maintained, while prices of goods influencing the CPI were well controlled to partly make up for increases in the price of petroleum, gas, electricity, water, and transport services.

The tourism sector took opportunities brought by holidays to increase its revenue. Vietnam attracted more than three million of foreign visitors in the first four months of this year, an increase of 27.3 percent over the same period last year.

A balance of trade surplus in terms of both value and growth was recorded. According to the statistics, goods worth almost 45.74 billion USD were exported in the first four months of 2014 (an increase of 16.9 percent over the same time last year), while goods worth nearly 45.1 billion USD were imported during the same period (up 13.7 percent from the same time in 2013).

Telephone, textile and garment, footwear, seafood, machinery and equipment, means of transport, wood product and coffee exports in the first four months of 2014 grew 15-30 percent compared to the same time in 2013.

Vietnam imported 1 billion USD more than it exported in the first four months of 2013 and exported 683 million USD more than it imported in April 2014 and imports satisfied production (including export production) and technological innovation demands. That is the sign of a healthy foreign trade, according to economists.

In the first four months of this year, the domestic economic sector achieved export revenue of an estimated 15.38 billion USD, up 16.2 percent from the same period last year.

The sector exported goods worth nearly 14 billion USD in the first four months of 2013, an increase of seven percent over the same time in 2012. The sector imported goods worth 18.8 billion USD in the first four months of this year, up eight percent from the same time in 2013 accounting for 41.7 percent of the country’s total, while the foreign invested sector imported goods worth 26.3 billion USD, up 18.2 percent and accounting for 58.3 percent of the country’s total.-VNA