Purchasing power stays low as CPI increases
The purchasing power of Vietnamese citizens in September 2014 reached VND244.5 trillion (US$11.65 billion), representing a 0.7% month-on-month increase and a 9.1% year-on-year increase.
Vu Manh Ha, an economist of the General Statistics Office (GSO), said this month's consumer price index (CPI) increase was the highest since March. This indicates that purchasing power remained low and Vietnamese residents were still tightening their budgets on all items except for daily needs like food and transportation, he added.
GSO figures also showed that purchasing power in the first nine months of 2014 reached VND2,145 trillion (US$102.2 billion), a year-on-year increase of 11.12%.The purchasing power of the private sector reached VND1,855 trillion (US$88.4 billion), making up nearly 90% of total sales, or an 11.1% year-on-year increase.
This was attributed to the Mid-Autumn Festival and the demand for books and other school supplies among 20 million students nationwide at the start of the new school year in the beginning of September. This brings nationwide retail revenue to VND1,617 trillion (US$77 billion), or 75.4% of total national revenues, representing a 10.7% year-on-year increase.