Consumer Price Index Surges 2.5 per cent in February

Consumer Price Index Surges 2.5 per cent in February

Vietnam's consumer price index (CPI) is estimated to increase 2.5 per cent in February, 3.6 per cent against the end of 2004, and 9.1 per cent over the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office.

Food and foodstuffs, which account for 47 per cent of the basket of commodities used in calculating CPI, registered the highest increase in prices this month, up 4.1 per cent against January (+14.4 per cent on-year), followed by beverages, cigarettes and cultural-sport-recreational services with an increase of 1.7 per cent in each group.

Charges of transport-postal services went 0.8 per cent higher in the second month of the year while garments-footwear and home appliances inched up by 0.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively. Prices of pharmaceutical products-health services also climbed up 0.4 per cent. Only educational services reported their fees unchanged in February.

CPI in rural areas nationwide rose by 2.2 per cent, with food and foodstuff jumping by 3.7 per cent.

The south-eastern region saw the highest CPI rise at 3 per cent, followed by the north-eastern region with an increase of 2.6 per cent. The Central Highlands saw the modest CPI rise of 1.5 per cent.

Among localities nationwide, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s economic hub, reported the sharpest CPI upsurge of 3.3 per cent, followed by Binh Dinh and Danang with 3 per cent each. Haiphong posted the slightest CPI rise of 1.8 per cent in February.

During the month, the price of gold dropped 1.8 per cent from January, but increased 5.2 per cent year-on-year. The price of the US dollar ended slightly higher (0.1 per cent) against the previous month.

The Ministry of Trade predicted that the CPI would increase by approximately 3.5 per cent on-year in the first quarter of this year and 6.5 per cent for the whole year.

• Ngoc Dung