The total revenue of retail goods, which accounted for more than 75 per cent of the total revenue, hit $39.5 billion, up 9 per cent. — VNA/VNS Photo Trần Việt

Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI — The purchasing power in the total national retail value of goods and services until April 2016 reached nearly VND1.14 trillion, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

This is equivalent to US$51.7 billion, and a year-on-year increase of 8.8 per cent.

The increase is estimated at 7.5 per cent if the price factor is excluded, lower than the growth of the first four months of last year at 8.3 per cent, and the lowest growth since the beginning of this year.

In particular, the growth of January is 11 per cent, of the first two months is 8.3 per cent, and of the first three months is 7.9 per cent.

GSO expert Vũ Mạnh Hà attributed the decrease in purchasing power of the first four months of this year to the significant growth of the consumer price index (CPI) of the first four months compared to the same period last year.

However, total sales have still seen a fairly positive increase.

Of these, the total revenue of retail goods, which account for more than 75 per cent of the total revenue, hit $39.5 billion, up nine per cent.

Of these, food and foodstuff retail increased 13 per cent, garment retail increased 10.6 per cent, transportation services 10 per cent, home appliances 9.2 per cent and retail of culture and education products increased 1.3 per cent.

The total revenue of accommodation and restaurant service sales, which accounts for 11.2 per cent of the total revenue, increasing eight per cent in the first four months.

Localities which have a high growth in the sector’s revenue include Thanh Hóa (15 per cent), Ninh Bình (9 per cent), Hà Nội (nearly 9 per cent) and HCM City (nearly 8 per cent).

The total revenue of tourism and travel sector, which accounts for only 0.8 per cent, also reached a growth of 8 per cent in the first four months.

Of these, tourism of Lâm Đồng Province has the highest increase in revenue of 16.5 per cent, followed by Cần Thơ Province (12 per cent), Hà Nội (8.1 per cent) and HCM City (6.5 per cent). – VNS