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| CPI in HCM City and Ha Noi decline against the previous months.— Photo dddn.com.vn |
HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The consumer price index (CPI) in the country's two largest cities of Ha Noi and HCM City in March declined against the previous month due to low demand.
According to Ha Noi's Statistics Office, March's CPI in the capital dropped 0.15 per cent over February. However, the index rose 5.99 per cent year on year.
The decline in the prices of housing construction materials (including rent, electricity, water, fuel and construction materials) and food contributed mainly to pulling down the CPI as these form a majority of the 11 items used to calculate it.
In particular, the prices of housing and construction materials reported the highest fall of 1.22 per cent following the fall in gas prices on March 1. The prices of food and foodstuff came next with a drop of 0.21 per cent.
In contrast, the beverage and tobacco basket reported the highest price hike of 0.37 per cent due to a sharp increase in the prices of tobacco recently. The prices of traffic services inched up by 0.3 per cent.
In the same month, the prices of postal services and telecommunications remained unchanged.
In HCM City, March's CPI dropped 0.46 per cent over February. It rose 4.19 per cent year over year, the HCM City's Statistics Office showed.
As many as six out of 11 items used to calculate the CPI saw their prices fall this month.
As in Ha Noi, the prices of housing and construction materials saw the highest fall of 0.99 per cent this month, thanks to the fall in gas prices. The prices of food and foodstuff followed with a drop of 0.84 per cent.
HCM City also saw the prices of culture-entertainment-tourism, traffic services, postal services and telecommunication and education inch down between 0.01 and 0.35 per cent.
Household appliances had the highest price hike of 0.22 per cent in HCM City, followed by beverages and tobacco with a rise of 0.17 per cent.
After Ha Noi and HCM City declared the March CPI, experts expect the CPI of the whole country also to fall this month. — VNS