HCM City’s Tet spending rose, with retail and service revenue reaching 108 trillion VND (4.3 billion USD) in January, up 7.5% year-on-year.

Vietnamese authorities and businesses are rolling out comprehensive promotion programmes to boost consumer spending for the upcoming Tet holiday (Lunar New Year).

The Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT) is urging the government to boost domestic spending by raising the starting salary of new public servants to 25,000 THB (about 750 USD) per month and offering 1,000 THB in digital currency to foreign tourists who visit certain parts of the country.

Philippine consumers are now spending less on essential goods and services, and consuming more of nonessential items – a shift that’s not surprising as the country moves closer to “upper-middle income” economy status, HSBC Global Research said.

Spending for Valentine’s Day this year in Thailand is expected to increase 5.4% from 2023 to about 2.52 billion THB (70 million USD), according to a recent survey by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC).

Vietnam’s economy will grow by 6% in 2024, faster than in 2023, according to economists of HSBC Vietnam.

Experts said Vietnam has the potential to achieve a GDP growth of 6-6.5% in 2024, driven by public investment, consumer spending, import-export recovery, and monetary policies.

In the first nine months of the year, Vietnam’s economy expanded 4.24% year-on-year, which is an improvement against the 3.72% posted in the first half but was only half the pace of the 8.85% year-on-year recorded in the same period of last year.

Bolstered by the government’s stimulus measures, Thailand's consumer spending is predicted to hit a 17-year high, reaching 103.04 billion THB (2.9 billion USD).

Shopping habits tended to focus only on essential goods amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has therefore become necessary to identify solutions to effectively stabilise prices to stimulate consumer spending.

The Indonesian Government is planning to expand its social aid programme and incentives for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in an effort to boost consumer spending and revive the economy in the second half of this year.

The Malaysian government has allowed traders to hold unlimited cheap sales in a bid to fuel consumer spending, thereby boosting the country's economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) of Malaysia has launched a credit programme worth 750 million RM (179 million USD), aiming at boosting consumer spending in the country as one of initiatives under the Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA). ​

Laos has earned more from rice exports to China in the past few years due to trade preference arrangements between the two countries.

Vietnam’s food processing and packaging industry has expanded by 15-20 percent annually over the past several years and is likely to grow further in the coming years, according to the Association of Vietnam Retailers (AVR).

The Thai Government has passed a tax incentive to encourage shopping activities across the country at year’s end, boosting domestic consumer spending.

Vietnam’s retail sector is forecast to be stable in the coming years, attracting investment from many foreign enterprises thank to its large population, brighter economic outlook and greater purchasing power.

Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased 3.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017, reported the National Economic and Social Development Board.

Consumer spending in November posted a significant year-on-year increase as the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday neared.

Vietnam’s total retail sale and service revenues saw a year-on-year increase of 9.3 percent to some 2,896.6 trillion VND (126 billion USD) in the first ten months of 2016.