VN slowdown cuts into Tet spending
Play
Two days before Tet, the traditional Vietnamese new year holiday, the family of Nguyen Thi Hoa in Hanoi's Trung Tu neighbourhood hadn't even begun to clean and decorate the house.
She wondered if she would be able to afford a small peach blossom branch.
High inflation and the prolonged economic slowdown in recent years have cut into her family’s income and purchasing power, leaving her with far less money this year to spend on the holiday.
“In the past, we used to buy both a peach tree and a kumquat tree,” Hoa said. “This year will be different. It is now a luxury for us to pay 1 million dong [about $1,500] for plants just to decorate the house for a week. I’d prefer to use the money to buy milk for my children.”
Hoa also decided this year to make some traditional Tet foods herself rather than buy them readymade, including gio lua (pork bologna) and banh chung (sticky rice square cake).
Hoa’s family is not an exception. Many families in Hanoi and throughout the country are being forced to tighten their belts and enjoy more modest celebrations.
One month before Tet, Le Thi Thanh from Ha Noi’s Hoan Kiem District began shopping around for discounts on clothing.
Last weekend, during the Ong Cong (Land Genie) and Ong Tao (the Kitchen God) Festival, Thanh’s family also didn’t buy any goldfish to release into a lake or river. In the Vietnamese belief, these gods ride carp to heaven to pray to Ngoc Hoang (the Jade Emperor) for luck,prosperity and happiness for the members of the household.
