Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) in February was up 1.52percent over the previous month and 0.7 percent year on year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
This is the highest February CPI growth recorded in thelast eight years.
However, the index in the first two months decreased 0.14 percentyear-on-year.
Compared to the previous month, an upturn was seen in theprices of ten out of 11 main groups of goods and services, with housingand construction materials taking the lead (4 percent). It was followed by food and cateringservices (1.61 percent); transport (1.55 percent); drinking and tobacco (0.9percent); garment and textile, headwear and footwear (0.25 percent).
The price of education services remained stable compared to theprevious month.
The GSO’s Price Statistics Department explained that the CPI in Februarysaw a strong rise due to the higher demand for food and foodstuffs for theLunar New Year (Tet) festival.
The prices of medicine and medical supplies in January-February increased by 0.88 percent compared to the same period lastyear, the price of gas in the month climbed 3.05 percent year-on-year.
There were a number of reasons for the decrease in CPI in the last two months. The petrol and oil prices decreasedby 15.78 percent year-on-year while the electricity price in January fell by 16.88 percentover the same period last year, making the average electricity price in thefirst two months of 2021 down by 9.95 percent.
Due tothe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for travel and tourism decreasedcompared to the same period last year. On average, in the last two months, theair ticket price dropped by 35.65 percent, train fares down 12.39 percent; andtour prices decreased by 4.99 percent.
At the same time, domestic gold price inFebruary was up 0.25 percent over the previous month, while that of US dollar wasaround 23,145 VND per USD, down 0.17 percent month-on-month and 0.76percent year-on-year.
GSO said the core inflation in February, whichis CPI excluding grain food, fresh foodstuff, energy and the State-managedmedical and educational services, increased by 0.48 percent from the previousmonth, and 0.79 percent compared to one year ago.
The two-month core inflation grewby 0.64 percent year-on-year.
The core inflation rates in February and the first two months of 2021 compared to the same periods lastyear were the lowest in the past five years./.
VNA
