Consumer confidence shows early year bounce
Hanoi consumers appear to be growing in optimism according to a new consumer confidence survey.
This was a marked improvement on the first six months where 54% of respondents described Vietnam’s economic situation as bad, and the rate reduced to 39.4% in the second half of last year.
With more than 1,500 inhabitants in Hanoi involved in the survey, the rate of respondents upbeat about the country’s economic situation rose from 41 to 55% from the first to the second half of last year.
Some 65.9%said their employment was more stable in the second half of the year versus 52.4% in the first half. The rate of those saying their employment was unstable reduced from 44.3 to 31%bfrom the first to the second half of 2013.
“This show that the economy has been showing very positive changes,” commentary on the survey claimed. “It also shows that Hanoi’s economy in general and household employment and incomes in particular have been improving. Households and individuals spending are increasing, meaning that the city’s consumption is growing.”
However, Pham Phuong Thao, a housewife in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh district, told Vietnam Investment Review that like thousands of families in her area, her five-member family still faced difficulties.
“Salaries haven’t increased, while the prices of petro and gas, water and electricity all increased,” she said. “We have also heard that their prices will continued rising in 2014, meaning that our life will become more difficult.”
Since December 2012 power prices have risen by 10%.
In 2013, despite six reductions, petro prices overall increased 4.48% after a series of five increases.
In 2013, gas prices also climbed seven times.
Last month, the National Centre for Socio Economic Information and Forecasting announced a study showing that it expected the government to increase power prices by 11% in 2014 and another 11% in 2015 based on the government’s average power retail price framework for 2013-2015 enacted last month.
“This hike will have the biggest impact on the prices of garments, footwear, home appliances, and housing and construction material,” said Pho Thi Kim Chi, a representative from the centre’s Analysis and Forecasting Department.
The centre also predicted a 20% bump in the prices of drugs and medical services in 2014 and 20% in 2015, which would raise the country’s consumer price index (CPI) by 0.71%.