The country’s total retail sales and services revenue reached VND1,267.9 trillion (US$56.7 billion) in the first four months of this year, a year on year increase of 6.7 per cent.

The growth rate was lower than the growth rate of 7.8 per cent in the first four months of 2016, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

GSO’s domestic trade expert Vu Manh Ha said purchasing power of the people decreased in the first four months, making growth rate of total retail sales and services revenue in this period lower than the growth rate in the first four months of 2016.

Meanwhile, the average consumer price index (CPI) growth rate for the first four months of this year at 4.8 per cent was higher than the rate of 1.48 per cent for the first four months of 2016. That was one of the reasons for lower growth rate in total retail sales and services revenue during the first four months of 2017.

However, reduction in purchasing power did not affect the retail sector. Retail sales and services revenue of this sector gained a year-on-year increase of 9.7 per cent to VND955.8 trillion.

Revenue of accommodation and catering services in the first four months surged 11.3 per cent year-on-year to VND153.4 trillion.

Revenue of the tourism and travel sector, accounting for 0.8 per cent of total revenue, had the lowest growth rate at 6.3 per cent year-on-year in the first four months of 2017.

CPI unchanged in April

CPI in April was unchanged against March but still rose 0.9 per cent against December 2016 and 4.3 per cent year-on-year, the GSO said.

Average CPI growth in the first four months of 2017 reached 4.8 per cent year-on-year, but the growth rate was lower than the growth rate at 4.96 per cent in the first three months of this year.

“With zero growth rate in April this year, 2017 witnessed the lowest growth in comparison with the growth rate in April of the past 14 years,” Do Thi Ngoc, GSO’s deputy head of the CPI department, said.

That lower growth was due to the oversupply of pork in the domestic market even though demand for pork in the local market did not increase and Chinese traders did not purchase Vietnamese pork, Ngoc said. The high supply of pork made the price of this food item drop by four per cent, leading to a reduction in price of the restaurant and catering service group by 0.66 per cent.

The price fell 0.24 per cent for the group of housing and building material, 1.38 per cent for the group of transport due to the reduction in the price of petrol and oil price on March 21 and April 5, and 0.03 per cent for the group of post and telecom services.

In April, some goods and services witnessed a slight increase in price, including the group of drinks and tobacco and the group of garment, footwear and hats.

Meanwhile, the price of medicine and health services rose 8.05 per cent because 14 provinces and major cities increased prices according to schedules approved by the Government.

The price of gold in April surged 1.01 per cent, but the rate of the US dollar plunged 0.28 per cent against March. — VNS