Vietnam CPI rises 2.09% in Feb: GSO

Vietnam consumer price index(CPI) in February is estimated to have surged 2.09% from January

Vietnam consumer price index(CPI) in February is estimated to have surged 2.09% from January, the General Statistics Office of Vietnam said.

The CPI figure is close to the earlier 2% estimation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and other local offices.

February increase has expanded the CPI rise of 3.87% in the first two months of this year and 12.31% on year, driven by higher prices of food and restaurant service on a long Tet holiday.

Prices of food and restaurant service staple posted highest increase in the second month of this year with 3.65%, including food (+4.53%) and catering service (+3.31%). Meanwhile, the world prices of these staples increased by 1.51% in February.

Drinks and cigarettes group; garment and footwear staples and followed with a 2.14% and 1.38% increase, respectively.

Tourism and recreation services, transportation and other services also posted an average increase of 1% due to higher demand of travel on Tet holidays.

Construction materials prices jumped 0.83% on month due to higher prices of steel and cement, partly due to higher USD/VND exchange rate.

Domestic gold prices fell 0.35% from January while domestic dollar price rose 0.94% from January.

CPI of two biggest cities of Vietnam also posted a high increase. Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi CPI saw an increase of 1.98% and 1.61% on month, respectively.

Earlier, analysts expected CPI to peak in February during the hottest season of Lunar New Year festival and start to ease in late first quarter, possibly bottom in the third quarter this year.

The Vietnamese government sets top priority for curbing inflation and stabilizing its macro economy and social security as concerns on high inflation still hang up, Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of Vietnam said at the cabinet on stabilizing macro economy on late February 22. – Stoxplus.com

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