HÀ NỘI — The country’s total retail sales and services revenue this February crossed VNĐ309.3 trillion (US$13 billion), data from the General Statistics Office (GSO) has revealed.

The figure is a 6.5 per cent decrease from the previous month, but posts a 7.2 per cent year-on-year rise, GSO said.

GSO statistician Vũ Mạnh Hà explained that the drop in retail sales and services revenue in February was because Tết (Lunar New Year) fell in January, when people spent a lot.

That’s the reason the total retail sales last month, which accounts for three-fourth of the total purchasing power, dropped 7.6 per cent compared to the previous month.

The first two months of the year have seen a total retail sales and services revenue of VNĐ604 trillion, which is a 5.6 per cent year-on-year increase, if rise in prices are ignored.

Retail sales saw a relatively high growth of 9.7 per cent compared to the same two-month period last year, to reach VNĐ487.4 trillion.

Products that saw an increase in sales include food and foodstuff (10 per cent), garments and textiles (9.6 per cent), transport (9.4 per cent) and home appliances (7.7 per cent). Culture, tourism and educational products saw a low increase of 5.1 per cent.

The hotel-restaurant sector also posted a low growth rate of 4.2 per cent in the first two months of the year, compared to the same period in 2016.

The total revenue earned by the hotel-restaurant sector in Hà Nội and HCM City saw a 4.1 per cent and 3.2 per cent year-on-year decrease, respectively. A decline was also recorded in places such as Quảng Ninh (37 per cent), Lào Cai (30 per cent), Quảng Bình (15.2 per cent), Phú Yên (29.4 per cent) and Lai Châu (8 per cent). — VNS