Retail sales go up in October
Retail sales of goods and services exceeded VND200.9 trillion (US$9.6 billion) nationwide in October, an increase of 1.3 percent over the previous month, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on October 29.
The results represented a fall in growth from September's month-on-month increase of 2.3 percent, noted GSO economic specialist Vu Manh Ha. He, however, attributed September's jump to an abrupt rise in the costs of healthcare services and the rising demand for textbooks and school supplies as the new school year began.
Ten-month retail sales reached VND1,917 trillion (US$91.3 billion) – an increase of around 6.8 percent over the same period last year. The average annual growth in retail sales has remained below 6 percent since April, a long way from figures in early 2011, when sales were expanding at rates of 7.7-17 percent, Ha said.
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"It's likely that the average sales growth of around 6 percent will continue through the remainder of this year, if there is no jump in the consumer price index," he forecast.