Viet Nam’s consumer price index (CPI) fell in November as the cost of fuel and a range of other products fell, a sign showing the Government’s target of capping the index at around 4 per cent this year was within reach.

Updates from the General Statistics Office on Thursday showed that CPI slipped by 0.29 per cent in November after inching up by 0.33 per cent in October. This is the first time November’s CPI has dropped since 2014.

Compared to December 2017 and November 2017, CPI was up 3.24 per cent and 3.46 per cent, respectively.

According to Do Thi Ngoc, director of GSO’s CPI Department, CPI was weighed down by drops of fuel prices in November.

In the domestic market, fuel prices were decreased on November 6 and 21 following drops in global oil prices with a total fall of VND2,230 (10 US cent) per litre for A95, VND2,060 for biofuel E3 RON 92 and VND980 for diesel oil. On average, fuel prices fell by 4.1 per cent, pushing down transportation cost by 1.84 per cent and overall CPI by 0.17 per cent.

Pork prices fell by 1.3 per cent over the previous month due to the increase in supply. As of November, the number of pigs in the country rose by 2.8 per cent, statistics showed.

With favourable weather, prices of fresh vegetables dropped by 0.68 per cent. Gas prices dipped 9.18 per cent.

Price of restaurant and catering services went down by 0.14 per cent, while those of housing and building materials fell by 0.64 per cent and telecommunications by 0.06 per cent.

Other categories saw slight increases in November compared to the previous month, such as garment and footwear (up 0.26 per cent), household appliances (0.08 per cent), education services (0.05 per cent) and medicine and healthcare services (0.01 per cent).

CPI in Ha Noi and HCM City fell by 0.26 per cent and 0.25 per cent in November over the previous month, respectively, according to municipal general statistics offices.

The falls were attributed to the significant decreasing fuel prices, the municipal offices said.

CPI in Ha Noi from January-November soared up 4.17 per cent compared to the same period last year while HCM City’s consumer prices rose by 2.98 per cent.

Overall, Viet Nam’s consumer prices went up by 3.59 per cent in the 11-month period over the same period last year.

In November, core inflation (excluding food, fresh food stuffs, energy, healthcare and education services) gained 0.11 per cent over October and 1.72 per cent over the same period last year.

For the 11-month period, core inflation increased 1.46 per cent.

According to GSO, general inflation posted higher increase rates than core inflation, demonstrating that the consumer prices were mainly pushed up by increases in prices of food, foodstuffs, fuel, education and healthcare services.

Gold prices increased by 0.98 per cent over October but decreased 0.81 per cent compared to December 2017.

The US dollar weakened by 0.03 per cent over October but gained 2.77 per cent over the end month of last year, statistics showed. — VNS