Total retail sales of consumer goods and services in the first five months of this year was estimated at VND2.52 quadrillion ($107.2 billion), a year-on-year rise of 12.6 per cent, the highest recorded in the same period since 2015, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO).

It underlines that the five-month result represents a surge of 28.3 per cent over the same time in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

Specifically, in the January-May period, revenue from retail sales of goods was VND1.99 quadrillion, up 10.7 per cent year on year.

Upturn was seen in sales of food and foodstuff (14.6 per cent), garment and textile (11.1 per cent), home appliances (4.8 per cent), transport vehicle excluding automobiles (4.2 per cent), and educational and cultural products (1.9 per cent).

Strong rise in revenue from retail sales of goods was seen in many localities, led by Bac Ninh with 19.6 per cent, Binh Dinh 14.8 per cent, Binh Duong 13.8 per cent, Thanh Hoa 12.1 per cent, and Hai Phong 10.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, revenue from accommodation and food services in the first five months was estimated at VND268.3 trillion, up 22.1 per cent over the same period last year, and that from other services reached about VND253.6 trillion.

In May alone, revenue from retail sales of consumer goods and services was recorded at VND519 trillion (US$22.09 billion), an increase of 1.5 per cent over the previous month and 11.5 per cent year on year thanks to the long holidays in the beginning of the month, the GSO said.

Deputy Director of Department of Planning and Finance under the Ministry of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thuy Hien held that despite the increase, the consuming power of the 100-million-strong market has yet to be fully exploited.

This is one of the reasons why the ministry proposed a reduction of value added tax on a number of goods groups to catalyse consumption, she said, expressing her hope that the cut will help promote goods production, job generation and State budget increase, thus contributing to completing the socio-economic development targets for this year.

Alongside, the ministry will also focus on implementing programmes to promote domestic trade, especially through digital platform and e-commerce, and support local firms to build trademarks, she said. — VNS