Viet Nam's total retail sale and service revenues saw a year-on-year increase of 9.3 per cent to some VND2,896.6 trillion (US$126 billion) in the first ten months of 2016, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).— Photo YuMe.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam's total retail sale and service revenues saw a year-on-year increase of 9.3 per cent to some VND2,896.6 trillion (US$126 billion) in the first ten months of 2016, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

However, the growth rate was still lower than the 9.7 per cent recorded during the first ten months of 2015, it reported.

If inflation was excluded, the amount in the first ten months this year marked an increase of 7.4 per cent, lower than the rate of 8.5 per cent in the first ten months of 2015, when excluding inflation. GSO's expert Vu Manh Ha said the reduction in the growth rate of the total retail sales and service revenues in the first ten months was due to rain and floods in the Centre, as well as drought in the South.

The weather conditions caused a drop in construction and housing repairs, while construction prior to the new school year ended, leading to a drop in the purchasing power of society.

Meanwhile, the consumer price index in the first ten months this year had an average growth rate of 2.27 per cent year on year, higher than the average rate of 0.63 per cent in the first ten months of 2015, Ha said. Therefore, the people must tighten additional consumer spending.

In October, retail sales and service revenues saw a small increase of 0.8 per cent month-on-month to VND295.35 trillion.

The total retail revenue of essential goods during the first ten months had a high growth rate of 9.3 per cent to VND2,201 trillion against the same period last year, while spending for tourism services rose by 6.8 per cent to VND270 trillion.

Ha said there would be many factors to push total retail sales and service revenues up in the two final months of the year, including Christmas, new year and lunar new year holidays, buying clothes for winter, and spending for health care services during the winter. — VNS