Vietnam Jan-Nov retail sales up 9.6% despite inflation increase

Retail and service sector revenues increased 9.6% year-on-year to VND5,667 trillion ($233.72 billion) in January-November, despite the country’s consumer price index (CPI) going up 3.22%.

The 9.6% revenue growth was nearly half the 20.2% recorded in the same period of 2022 and lower than 12.4% in pre-pandemic 2019, according to the General Statistics Office's (GSO) latest report.

The 2023 figure was significantly higher than the 0.4% in 2020 and negative 5% in 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic at its peak.

The retail sector was the biggest January-November revenue earner at VND4,420 trillion ($182.29 billion), up 8.6% year-on-year. The sub-sectors with the highest growth were culture-education (14.7%), food-foodstuff (11.4%), fashion (7.6%) and home appliances (6.3%).

The northern province of Quang Ninh topped the growth chart for localities nationwide (12.4%), followed by the southern province of Binh Duong (10.8%) and the central province of Khanh Hoa (10.7%). The figures for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were 6.7% and 7%, respectively.

Accommodation and restaurant services posted January-November revenues of VND616 trillion ($25.4 billion), up 15.3% year-on-year. Meanwhile, tourism earned VND34 trillion ($1.4 billion), up 50.5%, indicating a robust recovery that industry insiders have attributed to various promotions activities across the country. Other activities recorded total revenues of VND597 trillion ($24.62 billion), up 10.6%.

Inflation

Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI), an indicator of inflation, increased 3.45% year-on-year in November, up 3.46% over December 2022, and 0.25% from the previous month. As a result, the January-November CPI grew 3.22% year-on-year, while core inflation was 4.27%.

The CPI November figure was driven by a 2.9% increase in the sub-sector of medicine and healthcare, the GSO said. It attributed this to new healthcare prices per the Ministry of Health’s Circular 22/2023, which took effect on November 17.

Growth in the other sub-sectors was led by education (0.38%), other goods and services (0.32%), apparel-textile and footwear (0.2%), and beverage and tobacco (0.19%).

The lowest figures belonged to home appliances (0%), transportation (- 0.01%) and telecommunication-postal services (- 0.11%).