Consumer spending soars as Tet nears

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), the retail sales of goods and services in November totalled more than 302.9 trillion VND (13.5 billion USD), representing a rise of 1.9 percent over the previous month and a 10.4 percent increase over November 2015.

Retail sales of goods accounted for more than 76 percent of the total value.

Vu Manh Ha, GSO’s analyst on the domestic economy, said November witnessed strong purchasing power as the shopping season for Tet holiday would arrive earlier than normal. The holiday of this year will fall in late January 2017; usually it is in February.

Strong purchasing was seen in wedding, house repair and beauty care products.

Total retail value for the 11 months of this year touched 3.2 quadrillion VND, rising by 9.5 percent over the same period last year. If inflation was excluded, the rate would be 7.6 percent, lower than the 8.3 percent rate for the same period of 2015, due to the higher consumer price index (CPI).

Statistics showed that CPI grew at 4.5 percent in the 11 months of this year compared with only 0.58 percent in the same period of 2015.

Purchasing power was strong in major cities such as Hanoi, HCM City and Vung Tau, with increasing rates of more than 10 percent.