According to statistics from offices in Ha Noi and HCM City, August's CPI in Ha Noi rose 3.16 per cent over July and 0.31 per cent in HCM City.— Photo vinacorp

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— Consumer price indices in the two largest cities saw strong increase in August due to a surge in health care service prices and petrol products.

According to statistics from offices in Ha Noi and HCM City, August's CPI in Ha Noi rose 3.16 per cent over July and 0.31 per cent in HCM City.

The Ha Noi Statistics Office said the city's CPI saw a year-on-year surge of 8.7 per cent.

The growth rate for August's CPI, at 3.16 per cent, was 2.5 folds higher than the rate for the CPI during the month for Tet festival when the price of goods and services often increase sharply.

The strong surge of August's CPI in Ha Noi was due to an increase in the price of health care services, the office said. The CPI would rise only 0.59 per cent if the price of health care services was not used to calculate the CPI.

In August, the price of health care services gained the highest surge of 63.94 per cent, followed by the transport service price with an increase of 1.23 per cent due to the effects of petrol and oil price surges in July.

The petrol and oil price increase also pushed the price of the housing and building material group up 0.95 per cent against last month.

Also this month, the price of food and catering services had a strong surge of 0.78 per cent against last month, following months of decline since February.

The office said the price for vegetables was high due to shortages attributed to too much rain, while the price of meat increased as a result of high transport fees.

Additionally, farmers halted pig breeding due to difficulties which lead to a shortage of pork and expected increases in pork prices over the coming months. This was one of the factors that could affect the CPI by year's end, the office said.

HCM City's CPI in August rose 0.31 per cent against the previous month, according to the municipal Statistics Office. The index experienced increases of 1.26 per cent and 3.17 per cent compared to those of eight months and one year ago, respectively.

Most commodities saw price hikes during the month, with exceptions falling in the telecom and education sectors. The highest price rise, 1.24 per cent, was recorded in transport due to the impact of price hikes in petrol and oil products in July.

The surge in petrol, gas and oil prices also made the price of housing and building material, electricity and tap water group rise 0.58 per cent.

Prices of food and catering services rose 0.22 per cent and 0.19 per cent respectively.

Slight increases were also seen in the prices of beverage and tobacco (0.28 per cent); culture-entertainment-tourism (0.28 per cent); and garment-headwear-footwear (0.19 per cent).

The groups of household appliances, goods and other services, and medicines and health care services witnessed humbler price rises. — VNS