Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s total retailsales of goods and services in the first five months of 2019 increased 11.6 percentyear-on-year to 19.8 quadrillion (almost 85 billion USD), according to theGeneral Statistics Office (GSO).

Excluding inflation, the growth was 8.6 percentin the January-May period, 0.1 percent higher than the same period last year.

During the first five months of this year,retail sales of goods accounted for 76.5 percent of the total to reach 15.1quadrillion VND, 12.7 percent higher than the same period last year.

Of which, sales of food and foodstuff roseby 13.3 percent; household appliances, tools and equipment 12.8 percent;garment and textile 11.4 percent; and transport 11.2 percent.

Sales of accommodation and restaurant serviceshad a year-on-year increase of 9.2 percent to 236 trillion VND. Those oftourism revenue gained 18.4 trillion VND, 12.4 percent higher than the sameperiod last year.

GSO economic expert Vu Manh Ha said totalretail sales in the five months saw relatively high growth thank to abundantgoods supply, meeting production and consumption demand.

With the upward trend in total retail sales, theMinistry of Industry and Trade forecast total sales this year would grow by 10 percent.

With a growth rate of more than 10 percent ayear, Vietnam’s retail market has great potential due to its young populationand increasing income.

The GSO’s figures also revealed that thecountry’s retail market scale has rapidly increased in recent years from 88billion USD in 2010 to 130 billion USD in 2017. It was expected to rise to 180billion USD in 2020.

However, some big foreign retailershave struggled in Vietnam. Recently, French firm Auchan announced it wouldexit Vietnam after five years of operation.-VNA