If inflation were excluded, the amount marked a year-on-year increase of 8.4 per cent, a report of the General Statistics Office (GSO) revealed.

Retail sales of goods topped more than VND272 trillion ($11.93 billion), up 3.5 per cent month-on-month and 8.3 per cent year-on-year as domestic firms focused on stockpiling goods to meet rising demand of local consumers for the forthcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, GSO said.

The sectors recording a positive revenue increase include home appliances (up 8 per cent), food and foodstuff (up 7.5 per cent) and transport services (up 5.6 per cent).

Meanwhile, retail sales in accommodation, restaurant and catering services experienced a yearly increase of 15 per cent to VND45.1 trillion ($198 million), thanks to a strong increase in the number of international and domestic tourists and a rising demand for restaurant and catering services.

Some localities that posted positive accommodation, restaurant and catering sale in January were the northern province of Quang Ninh (30 per cent), central Thanh Hoa province (15.2 per cent), HCM City (9 per cent) and the capital city (8.5 per cent).

In the first month of this year, revenue from tourism services also saw significant year-on-year growth of 39.3 per cent to VND3.9 trillion ($171 million), with some provinces and cities recording strong growth, such as Ninh Binh (76 per cent), Quang Ninh (46 per cent), HCM City (44 per cent), Bac Ninh (34 per cent) and Ha Noi (33 per cent).

The reviewed strong increase was attributed to the positive influence of the country’s policies and measures on attracting visitors and effectiveness of its tourism promotion campaigns, GSO said.

The sales of other services during January reached more than VND40.1 trillion ($1.76 million), a hike of 10 per cent compared to a year ago.

The annual growth rate (excluding the price factor) of the country’s total revenue from retail sales of goods and services for the period from now to 2020 will average at 13 per cent per year, and rise to 14 per cent in 2021-25. The value will reach some VND5.8 quadrillion by 2020, VND11 quadrillion by 2025 and VND44 quadrillion by 2035.

These fingures were revealled in the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s draft strategy on domestic trade development, which is being publicised for recommendations.

Domestic economic sector will account for some 80 per cent of the country’s total retail sales revenue by 2020, while the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector will make up about 20 per cent before rising to 70 per cent by 2025 as per off the draft strategy. - VNS