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| CPI in the first 10 months of the year increased by only 2.36 per cent compared with the entire 2013. – Photo Tinnhanhchungkhoan |
HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam's consumer price index (CPI) posted a six-month low in October, rising by only 0.11 per cent month-on-month as a result of stability in the price of essential goods.
Figures released yesterday from the General Statistics Office (GSO) also showed that the CPI in the first 10 months of the year increased by only 2.36 per cent compared with the entire 2013, representing the lowest level of CPI increase in the past decade. The increase is also much lower than the Government's seven-per cent target for this year.
Do Thi Ngoc, the GSO Consumer Price Index Department deputy director, attributed the slight increase to abundant supply sources and stability in the price of essential goods.
Ngoc said the price of food and foodstuff, which accounts for 40 per cent of the 11-commodity basket used to calculate the CPI, increased by only 0.05 per cent month-on-month because of abundant supply sources.
She added that a 2.19-per cent decline in petrol prices, which was cut three times since late September, also helped bring down the price of transport service by 0.45 per cent and housing and construction materials, including fuel, by 0.08 per cent
The price of telecommunication services also inched down by 0.03 per cent while the price of other goods in the CPI basket increased slightly, including beverages and cigarettes by 0.06 per cent; culture, tourism and entertainment by 0.02 per cent; and garments, hats and footwear by 0.19 per cent.
The price of educational commodities and services reported the highest increase at 1.46 per cent, in the wake of the Government decision to increase school fees in several cities and provinces.
The domestic prices of gold, which is not in the CPI basket, dropped sharply by 2.82 per cent month-on-month, following the global downward trend, while the US dollar exchange rate increased by 0.18 per cent.
The CPI in the country's two largest cities of Ha Noi and HCM City ended mixed, with a 0.04 per cent increase in Ha Noi and a 0.03 per cent decrease in HCM City. GSO experts predict that the country's CPI increase this year will fluctuate at about five per cent. — VNS