The event is expected to draw a large number of firms which offer discounts of up to 100% instead of 50% as prescribed. Enterprises can also use gifts in their promotions.

Le Anh Quan, a representative from the Trade Promotion Department, said that many kinds of products would have attractive discounts of up to 50-80%, including garments and textiles, consumer products and banking services.

Companies are allowed to organise their promotion activities by themselves with no need to seek approval from the programme’s organising board.

The programme, which was kicked off today, July 1 will end on the 31st of the month.

Vietnam News Agency cited a report from the General Statistics Office as saying that the nations' total revenue of retail trade and services exceeded VND1.91 quadrillion (USD82.36 billion) in the first five months of this year, down 4% on-year.