HCMC – Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) from January to September inched up 1.82% year-on-year, the lowest level for the same period since 2016, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
In the nine-month period, core inflation, which excludes the prices of fresh food, energy and state-controlled healthcare and education services, edged up 0.88% versus the year-ago period, the local media reported, citing Nguyen Thu Oanh, director of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department.
Core inflation in September fell 0.26% over August but inched up 0.74% year-on-year.
Core inflation growth in September and the January-September period was the lowest since 2011, Oanh noted.
In September alone, the CPI slipped 0.62% over the previous month but rose 2.06% against the same month last year.
The GSO attributed the slight increase in the CPI to lower house rentals, tuition fee reductions and exemptions, and electricity price cuts.
Among the 11 groups of consumer goods and services in the basket of items used to calculate the CPI, six groups marked an increase in prices and five registered a decline.
Specifically, education services recorded the largest fall of 2.89%, followed by housing and building materials with a decline of 1.99%. Meanwhile, transport and food-catering services slid 0.16% each, and the post and telecommunications group inched down 0.06%.
In contrast, the prices of beverages and tobacco had the highest increase of 0.17%, followed by household equipment and appliances with an increase of 0.09%.
Moreover, the prices of medicines and medical services posted a growth of 0.03%; apparel-footwear-hat and other goods and services, 0.02%; and cultural, entertainment and tourism services, 0.01%.
