Four-month CPI lowest in three years: GSO

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam recorded a year-on-year rise of 2.71 percent in the consumer price index (CPI) between January and April of 2019, a three-year low in the period.

The General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on April 29 that the CPI in April grew 0.31 percent from the previous month, 1 percent from December 2018, and 2.93 percent from a year earlier.

Month-on-month increases were recorded in nine of the 11 main groups of consumer goods and services, namely transport (4.29 percent); housing fees and construction materials (0.6 percent); household equipment and utensils (0.11 percent); culture, entertainment and tourism (0.1 percent); beverage and cigarette (0.08 percent); garment, headwear and footwear (0.06 percent); education (0.05 percent); medicine and healthcare services (0.01 percent); and other goods and services (0.15 percent).

On contrast, prices of food and food services fell 0.57 percent and those of postal and telecom services declined 0.07 percent.

Director of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department Do Thi Ngoc said the price hikes on April 2 and 17 pulled petrol prices this month up by 9.88 percent from March. 

Prices of train tickets were also raised by 2.76 percent due to the surged travel demand during the two national holidays in the middle and end of April, contributing to the overall growth of 4.29 percent in transport prices.

Additionally, electricity prices increased by 1.85 percent from last month under the impact of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s price hike decision in late March.

Meanwhile, some factors helped to curb the CPI uptrend, Ngoc said, noting that pork prices dropped 3.07 percent as a result of the spread of the African swine fever. Sugar prices decreased 0.67 percent because of lower prices in the global market and weaker demand amid abundant supply. Abundant supply also led to lower fruit and vegetable prices.

In April, domestic gold prices fluctuated in line with global prices, falling 0.5 percent month on month to 36.7 million VND per tael of SJC gold.

The price of the US dollar also declined 0.02 percent, the GSO said, adding that the USD/VND exchange rate this month was relatively stable, about 23,350 VND per USD on average.

The GSO said the core inflation – which is the CPI excluding food items, energy products, and state-managed healthcare and educational services – in April increased 0.09 percent against March and 1.88 percent year on year. 

It rose 1.84 percent in the first four months compared to the same period of 2018.-VNA