Total retail sales of goods and services reached 2,116.67 trillion VND (94 billion USD) for the January-August period, a 10.1% increase year-on-year, or 9.1% if inflation is excluded.

Among the total, retail sales of goods contributed three-fourth, with a value of 74.8 billion USD, increasing by 10.8%.

Retail sales of accommodations, restaurants and catering services posted growths of 11.7%, while the tourism sector accounted for 0.9 %.

Domestic retail sales increase 10.1% (Photo: VNS/VNA)

According to Vu Manh Ha, an expert of the General Statistics Office, the purchasing power showed improvements thanks to an abundant supply, stable prices and diversified and high quality products, along with many promotional programmes conducted by companies.

Key consumer products and essential services saw stable prices in the first 8 months of the year.  Restaurants witnessed slight increases at 0.1%, transport services were up 2.12%, healthcare services up 0.01%, drugs rose by 0.03%, soft drinks were up 0.07% and electricity, tap water and gas were down 0.45%.

(Source: VNA)