Vietnam’s retail sales of goods and services rose to 10.2 percent to around 156.7 billion USD in 2016, data from the General Statistics Office (GSO) has revealed.

The rise – it was 9.8 percent growth in 2015 – reflects an improvement in both domestic consumption capacity and the lives of people, said Nguyen Bich Lam, head of GSO.

According to GSO, the retail sales of goods, which account for 76 percent of total sales, reached 118.9 billion USD, up 10.2 percent from last year.

The revenue in some sectors saw a handsome increase. Food and food products, for instance, surged 13 percent year-on-year, household appliances rose 12 percent, garments and textiles went up 11 percent and transport services increased by 6 percent. However, the sales of educational and cultural products barely grew at 2 percent.

The retail sales of accommodation, restaurant and catering services reached approximately 18.4 billion USD, which accounts for 12 percent of the total revenue, posting an 11 percent year-on-year rise. This is mainly thanks to effective tourism policies that led to a significant increase in the number of tourists in later months of 2016.

Localities that posted high accommodation, restaurant and catering retail sales include the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Binh Thuan at 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively; the northern city of Hai Phong (16 percent), the capital (14 percent) and HCM City (9 percent).

Last year, revenue from tourism services also saw a rise of 12 percent to 1.51 billion USD, with some regions recording strong growth, such as the northern Quang Ninh province (14 percent), the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau (14 percent) and Hanoi and HCM City at 11 percent each.

The sales of other services in 2016 reached an estimated 18 billion USD, making up 11.4 percent of total revenue and surging 9.3 percent compared to a year ago.

The Association of Vietnam Retailers has forecast that Vietnam’s retail turnover would likely rise to 179 billion USD by 2020.

VNA