Illustrative photo. (Source: VNA)Vietnam's CPI picked up 2.1 percent in the first four months of 2022, much higher than the same period lastyear’s 0.89 percent but still lower than that of 2017 (4.8 percent) and 2020(4.9 percent), commented Dr. Tran Toan Thang, head of the Department of Industrialand Business Forecast at the National Centre of Economic Forecast andInformation.
April CPI advanced 2.09 percent compared to December 2021and 2.64 percent year-on-year as a result of an increase in prices of nine outof eleven commodities and services. Prices of transport services surged 16.59 percent last month, causing the overall CPI to gain 1.6 percentagepoints.
As major economies like the EU, US, and UK are seeing inflationclimbing to record highs in decades, it still looks okay for Vietnam, he said.
However, he warned that with economic volatility still onsight until the end of 2022, it would be very challenging to maintain the CPI below4 percent this year.
Retail prices of fuel rose constantly in April despite a50-percent cut on the environmental protection tax on petrol approved at thebeginning of the month, Thang noted.
With theRussia-Ukraine conflict showing no signs of de-escalation and Western nations highly likely to continue imposing sanctions on Russia, rising fuel prices will hamper the efforts to control inflation.
He also noted the impact of China’s “zero-COVID-19”policy which triggers a shortage of materials, causing prices of commodities tospur further.
To reduce negative impacts of rising fuel prices, Thangsuggested the government considers reducing special consumption, import andvalue-added taxes.
The most optimal solution is to slash import taxes and cuttoll road fees by extending the payback period for BOT projects, he said,adding that reduction in prices of transport services will result in a decrease incosts, slowing the CPI growth./.
VNA
