Photo: CPVTotal retail sales of commodities and services in October reached 136.3 trillion VND (7.17 billion USD), the highest monthly level this year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The GSO said that monthly retail sales so far this year had been between 121 trillion VND (6.4 billion) and 135 trillion VND (7.1 billion USD).

With October's increase, total retail sales value for the first ten months of the year rose to 1,282 trillion VND (67.5 billion USD), up 26.1 percent over the same period last year.

The trade sector reported a year-on-year revenue surge of 25.8 percent to 1,010.9 trillion VND (51.84 billion USD), accounting for nearly 80 percent of the country's total sales during the ten-month period.

The hotel and restaurant sector saw a rise of 21.6 percent to 141.2 trillion VND (7.24 billion USD) and figures for the service sector increased 22.3 percent to 116.9 trillion VND (5.99 billion USD).

Head of the GSO's Trade Department Le Minh Thuy attributed the October surge to increasing consumer demand thanks to a series of festivals including Hanoi's 1,000th anniversary last month.

October is also often the first month to experience a bump in retail growth and that normally lasts until the end of the year, said Thuy.

The surge in retail sales was also significant thanks to a number of promotional programmes organised by the Government as part of measures to stabilise prices.

Industry insiders said retail sales would surge significantly this month, especially in Hanoi thanks to the launch of a promotions month. More than 1,100 special displays of products from 300 businesses, commercial centres, supermarkets and shops will be set up in various venues around the city with promotions for the month of November.

Participating businesses will be discounting a minimum of 30 percent of their products at more than 15 percent.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade forecast that the country's retail sales and services revenue would soar roughly 22 percent year-on-year to 78.9 billion USD in 2010./.

Source: VietnamPlus