The purchasing power of Vietnamese citizens in September 2014 reached
244.5 trillion VND (11.65 billion USD), representing a 0.7-percent
month-on-month increase and a 9.1-percent year-on-year increase.
Vu
Manh Ha, an economist of the General Statistics Office (GSO), said this
month’s consumer price index (CPI) increase was the highest since
March. This indicates that purchasing power remained low and Vietnamese
residents were still tightening their budgets on all items except for
daily needs like food and transportation, he added.
GSO figures
also showed that purchasing power in the first nine months of 2014
reached 2,145 trillion VND (102.2 billion USD), a year-on-year increase
of 11.12 percent.
The purchasing power of the private sector
reached 1,855 trillion VND (88.4 billion USD), making up nearly 90
percent of total sales, or an 11.1-percent year-on-year increase.
This
was attributed to the Mid-Autumn Festival and the demand for books and
other school supplies among 20 million students nationwide at the start
of the new school year in the beginning of September. This brings
nationwide retail revenue to 1,617 trillion VND (77 billion USD), or
75.4 percent of total national revenues, representing a 10.7-percent
year-on-year increase.-VNA