Vietnam's consumer spending hikes as Lunar New Year holiday nears
Xinhua, December 2, 2016 Adjust font size:
Vietnams consumer spending posted a significant year-on-year increase in November as the Lunar New Year holiday is nearing.
According to the country's General Statistics Office (GSO) on Friday, the retail sales of goods and services in November stood at more than 302.9 trillion Vietnamese dong (13.5 billion U.S. dollars), 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 Lunar New Year holiday would arrive earlier than normal. The holiday of this year will fall in late January 2017 instead of early February as usual.
Strong purchasing was seen in wedding, house repair and beauty care products, said GSO.
Total retail value for the first 11 months of 2016 reached 3,200 trillion Vietnamese dong (143.5 billion U.S. dollars), rising by 9.5 percent over the same period last year, said the office. Enditem