Retail sales rise 13% in January
The nation's total revenue from retail sales and services topped VND273.49 trillion (US$13 billion) in January, a year-on-year rise of 13%, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.
Vu Manh Ha, a senior expert at the GSO Trade Department, described it as an encouraging result compared with the average growth rate of 12% in the latter half of 2013.
He also attributed the first month's retail sales growth to the rapidly rising demand for commodities during the Lunar New Year holiday.
The trade sector, which accounted for nearly 80% of the total revenues, rose 10.8% over the same period last year, while the services sector experienced a significant rise of 24.2%.
Statistics show that last year, the country's retail industry recorded a yearly increase of 12.6% at VND2,618 trillion (US$124.66 billion).
The revenue growth, however, is the lowest over the past four years, compared with 24.5%, 14.2% and 16% in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively.
During the year, the sector with foreign investments posted the highest revenue rise of 33%, following by the private sector with 15.3%. Notably, the State-owned sector recorded an 8.6% slump in retail sales.