Retail goods, services generate over US$30.8 billion in Jan-Feb

If inflation were excluded, the amount marked a surge of 8.7 percent against the same period last year, according to a report of the General Statistics Office (GSO). This is much higher than the year-on-year growth rate of 5.1 percent in the first two months of 2017.

Vu Manh Ha, a GSO expert in domestic economy, said the Lunar New Year (Tet) week-long holiday in early February boosted consumption, besides increasing the demand on entertainment services and travel after Tet.

Thus, the total revenue of retail goods accounted for 76.15 percent of the national revenue to reach 531.98 trillion VND, up 10 percent year-on-year, GSO said.

Three of the key products---food, garments and home appliances---gained a growth of 11-11.8 percent in revenue each. They accounted for 50 percent of the total national revenue.

The tourism sector accounted for one percent of the total national revenue but had the largest growth rate of 38.42 percent in revenue because of the high demand for domestic and international tours.

The high consumption of retail goods and services was attributed to positive changes in the sale of goods and services, owing to trade promotion programmes and trade fairs on quality goods before, during and after Tet.-