Individual bank account holders have increased their collective bank deposits by 2.2 percent since the end of last year, according to State Bank data from March of this year. The bank also found that enterprises had seen their deposits decrease by 3.14 percent.
This fits with a broader narrative around Vietnamese moving to save and invest rather than spend–the stock market and local gold price have both been at historic highs this year, too–in light of broader economic challenges facing the country.
This is also reflected in retail sales which recorded a month-on-month decline in May over April of .07 percent and have averaged a decline of .19 percent a month since January.
See also: Retail Sales in Vietnam Tracker: May Update [data set]