Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s consumerprice index (CPI) in June expanded by 0.61 percent over May, the highest paceover the past six years, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on June29.
The number represented increases of 4.67percent year-on-year and 2.22 percent against December 2017, the office said.
With the figure, the index in the first sixmonths of this year rose 3.29 percent over the same period last year.
The first-half CPI hike was driven by higherprices of medical services, which climbed up 25.68 percent in line with theHealth Ministry’s Circular 02/2017/TT-BYT dated March 15, 2017, head of the GSO’sPrice Statistics Department Do Thi Ngoc explained.
Besides, higher tuitions fees, the increaseof regional minimum wage, plus higher prices of food, public transportservices, and oil and gas products alsocontributed to the CPI rise.
[Infographics: CPI grows 3.29 percent in first half of 2018]
According to the GSO, June’s basic inflation(CPI exclusive of foodstuff, fresh food, energy, health care and educationservices) rose 0.1 percent over the previous month and 1.37 percentyear-on-year. The number in the first six months also increased by 1.35 percentagainst the correspondent time last year.
Ngoc said ministries and agencies haveactively implemented the Government’s Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated January 1,2018 on major tasks and solutions to materialise the socio-economic developmentplan and state budget estimate in 2018, aiming to keep the CPI growth in 2018below 4 percent.
The industry sector has joined hands withrelevant agencies to instruct businesses to reserve goods and stabilise themarket during the Lunar New Year, helping prevent unexpected price hike on theholiday.
The Finance Ministry has also stepped up marketinspections. Meanwhile, the State Bank of Vietnam has managed the monetarypolicy, consistently pursuing the goal of maintaining macro-economicstability.-VNA
VNA
