Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest economic hub, recorded a positive economic growth rate in May and throughout the first five months of 2015, a conference heard on May 28. According to the municipal People’s Committee, total retail sales of goods and services are estimated at over 54.3 trillion VND (2.49 billion USD) for May and more than 267 trillion VND (12.28 billion USD) for the January-May period, up by 10.8 percent compared to the same period last year. The city’s Consumer Price Index rose by 0.3 percent in May against the previous month. This month, the export turnover is estimated at 2.57 billion USD and import turnover at 2.67…
Consumer confidence in Vietnam continues growing
The consumer confidence index in Vietnam increased six points against last quarter, according to Nielsen’s consumer confidence index report for the first quarter of 2015 released on May 20. Vietnam’s consumer confidence index rose from 106 to 112 points. It is the third consecutive increase and the country’s highest score since 2010, making Vietnam the sixth optimistic nation in the world. The report showed the continued trend of changing spending habits towards saving more money among Vietnamese consumers, with 86 percent of the interviewees saying they did so during the past 12 months. More than half (56 percent) of the interviewees cited the reason for the cut in spending as…