Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s retail sales of goods andservices rose to 10.2 percent to around 156.7 billion USD in 2016, data fromthe General Statistics Office (GSO) has revealed. The rise – it was 9.8 percent growth in 2015 – reflects animprovement in both domestic consumption capacity and the lives of people, saidNguyen Bich Lam, head of GSO. According to GSO, the retail sales of goods, which account for 76 percentof 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 foodproducts, for instance, surged 13 percent year-on-year, household appliancesrose 12 percent, garments and textiles went up 11 percent and transportservices increased by 6 percent. However, the sales of educational and culturalproducts barely grew at 2 percent. The retail sales of accommodation, restaurant and catering servicesreached approximately 18.4 billion USD, which accounts for 12 percent of thetotal revenue, posting an 11 percent year-on-year rise. This is mainly thanksto effective tourism policies that led to a significant increase in the numberof tourists in later months of 2016. Localities that posted high accommodation, restaurant and cateringretail sales include the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Binh Thuan at 18 percentand 17 percent, respectively; the northern city of Hai Phong (16 percent), thecapital (14 percent) and HCM City (9 percent). Last year, revenue from tourism services also saw a rise of 12 percentto 1.51 billion USD, with some regions recording strong growth, such as thenorthern Quang Ninh province (14 percent), the southern province of Ba Ria-VungTau (14 percent) and Hanoi and HCM City at 11 percent each.

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

The Association of Vietnam Retailers has forecast thatꦦ Vietnam’sretail turnover would likely rise to 179 billion USD b🉐y 2020.-VNA