Customers shop for goods. The comsumer price index (CPI) in May rose 0.49 per cent month on month. — Photo bnews.vn
Consumer price index (CPI) in May was up 0.49 per cent month on month and 2.88 per cent year on year, the General Statistics Office reported on Wednesday.
Average CPI for the first five months of the year increased by 2.74 per cent against the same period last year, the lowest growth rate of average CPI in the period registered in the last three years, the office said.
The GSO said nine out of the 11 goods and services groups used to calculate the May CPI had price rises compared with April. The transportation group had one of the highest price increases of 2.64 per cent due to the impact of the gasoline and oil price hikes on May 2 and May 17, sending the group's CPI up 0.25 per cent.
Following was the group of housing, electricity, water and construction materials (up 1.28 per cent), drinks and cigarettes (up 0.18 per cent) and apparel, hats and shoes (up 0.12 per cent).
Do Thi Ngoc, director of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department, said the CPI increase in May was due to the long National Reunification and May Day holidays, which increased demand for catering services and travel, driving up prices.
The increase of the basic electricity price in March and high demand for power in the hot weather made electricity prices shoot up 6.86 per cent and tap water prices rise 1.17 per cent.
There were also some factors curbing the CPI uptrend, including falling rice prices due to abundant supply during the harvest season and the continued decrease of pork prices as a result of the African swine fever epidemic.
In May, the two groups of consumer goods and services to see price decreases were medicine and medical services (down 0.06 per cent) and post and telecommunication (down 0.05 per cent).
The GSO said core inflation – which is the CPI adjusted to exclude food items, energy products and state-managed healthcare and educational services – in May inched up 0.13 per cent month on month and 1.9 per cent year on year.
It expanded 1.85 per cent in the first five months of the year compared to the same period in 2018.
Ngoc said domestic gold prices dropped 0.5 per cent from April to around VND33.66 million (US$1,450) per SJC-branded tael, which was in line with global fluctuations.
The US dollar was up 0.45 per cent month on month as the US-China trade war has driven its price up on the world market. — VNS