Excluding inflation, the amount marked a yearly increase of 6.7%, the GSO announced.
Vu Manh Ha, a GSO statistician, attributed the strong growth in January’s retail trade to stable prices despite local people’s high rate of consumption in preparation for the Tet holiday and supermarkets’ sufficient sources of consumer goods for the country’s largest annual festival.
Retail sales of goods, which accounted for more than three fourths of total sales, reached US$11.5 billion in January, surging 6.5% against the previous month and 11% against the same period last year.
Several sectors recording positive revenue increases included food and foodstuffs (up 13%); textile and garments (up 11.5%); transport services (up 11.2%) and home appliances (up 7.8%).
Meanwhile, retail sales in accommodation, restaurant and catering services, which made up 11.3% of the total, topped more than US$1.64 billion, representing a modest yearly rise of 3%.
Localities which posted encouraging accommodation, restaurant and catering retail sales growth included Ba Ria-Vung Tau with 12%, Thanh Hoa (8.6%); Kien Giang (7.4%); Hanoi (5.7%) and Da Nang (5.2%). Several others, however, witnessed a sales reduction, such as Quang Binh, down by 12.4% as well as HCM City and Nam Dinh, down by 5.3%.
In the first month of this year, revenue from tourism services also saw significant growth of 30.7% to US$155 million with some provinces and cities recording strong growth, such as HCM City and Ba Ria–Vung Tau (33%) and Quang Ninh (23%).
The strong increase was attributed to seasonal factors and the increasing tendency of Vietnamese to travel abroad during the Tet holiday, the GSO noted.
The sales of other services during the month reached over US$1.67 billion, a hike of 9.3% compared to a year ago.
