Consumers shop at a supermarket (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The total goods retail sales andconsumer service revenue surpassed 1.18 quadrillion VND (over 50.8 billion USD)in the first quarter of 2019, up 12 percent year on year, according to theMinistry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).
That figure included 392.2 trillion VND inMarch, up 0.9 percent from the previous month and 12.1 percent from the sameperiod last year.
The MoIT said the sustained growth in the retailsales and consumer service revenue was supported by the sufficient supply ofgoods although the global economic growth tended to slow down in the firstmonths of the year.
The domestic market has been kept stable withabundant goods supply and stable prices. During the period, it was mainly fuelledby the surged demand in preparation for the Lunar New Year holiday which fellin early February.
The MoIT’s Domestic Markets Department hasn’tseen any factors that may have negative impact on the domestic goods market inthe time ahead. It forecast this year’s total retail sales and consumer servicerevenue will still grow by the targeted rate of about 12 percent from 2018.
Deputy Minister Cao Quoc Hung said to removeproduction and business bottlenecks and promote economic growth, the MoIT willpress ahead with solutions to create development breakthroughs in the domesticmarket and foster export, especially the shipment of agricultural products.
The ministry will perfect legal regulations andpolicies on trading infrastructure, and attract more domestic and foreigninvestment to developing wholesale markets.
It will also coordinate with relevant agenciesand organisations to resolutely carry out the law on support for small- andmedium-sized enterprises so as to assist these firms to take part in Vietnamesegoods distribution chains in the domestic market, Hung added.-VNA
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