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Retail sales up in October
Retail sales of goods and services exceeded VND200.93 trillion (US$9.6 billion) nationwide in October, an increase of 1.3 per cent over the previous month, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced yesterday.
The gains represented slowdown in growth from September's month-on-month increase of 2.3 per cent, noted GSO economic specialist Vu Manh Ha, but Ha attributed September's jump in retail sales totals to an abrupt rise in the costs of healthcare services and rising demand for textbooks and school supplies as the new school year began.
Ten-month retail sales reached VND1,917 trillion ($91.3 billion) – an increase, when adjusted for inflation, of around 6.8 per cent over the same period last year. The average annualised growth in retail sale has remained below 6 per cent since April, still a long way from figures in early 2011, when sales were expanding at rates of 7.7-17 per cent, Ha said.
"It's likely that the average sales growth of around 6 per cent will continue through the remainder of this year, if there is no jump in the consumer price index," he added.
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