Vietnam’s CPI rises begin to ease

Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) in August rose by 0.93 per cent against last month, the lowest monthly increase since the beginning of this year.
But the index soared 23.02 per cent over the same period of 2010, pushing CPI in the past eight months on average up by 17.64 per cent compared to the corresponding time last year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on August 24.

Ten out of 11 commodity groups recorded increases ranging from 0.21 to 1.35 per cent, of which food and restaurant services saw the sharpest hike with 1.35 per cent, followed by education services and other goods and services with 1.13 per cent and 1.01 per cent, respectively.

Commodities with increases below 1 per cent were housing and construction materials; garments-textiles and footwear; beverages and cigarettes; household utensils; cultural, entertainment and tourist services; medicine and medical services and transport.

However, post and telecom services continued to drop, by 0.06 per cent.

Nguyen Duc Thang, Head of the GSO Pricing Department, attributed the lesser increase in the price of food and restaurant services to the lower rise of CPI this month.

Ho Chi Minh City’s CPI in August rose by only 0.68 per cent, Thang added.

The GSO expected that September CPI would rise only 0.9 percent, however, it also warned that cities, provinces and relevant ministries and branches should implement strong methods to curb inflation and stabilise prices of essential goods as this month marks National Day (September 2) and the storm season brought further risks.

During the month, the gold price soared 8.7 per cent against last month, pushing the price over the past eight months up 15.33 per cent over December, 2010 and 38.76 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The US dollar experienced a month-on-month rise of 0.26 per cent, pushing the price over the past eight months up 0.32 per cent compared to the end of 2010 and 9.91 per cent over the corresponding time last year. – VIR

Tags: Vietnam CPI, Vietnam CPI 2011, Vietnam economic, Vietnam economy