3:26:37 PM | 7/8/2005
Vietnam's Consumer Price Index (CPI) is estimated to increase 0.6 per cent in April, bringing the country’s inflation in the first four months of this year to 4.3 per cent, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The CPI increase in April is much higher than previous forecast of 0.1-0.3 per cent, possibly due to the fact that the government allowed local companies to increase the retail price of petroleum products at the end of March, leading to soaring prices of many other goods and services.
Nine out of ten listed groups of commodities (used in calculating CPI) have posted increases compared to the previous month. Transport-postal services saw the highest increase, at 1.5 per cent; followed by housing-construction materials, 1.1 per cent; pharmaceutical products, 0.6 per cent; food-foodstuff 0.5 per cent, which accounts for 47 per cent of the basket of commodities; home appliances, 0.4 per cent; garments-textiles-footwear, 0.3 per cent; and soft drinks-cigarettes and educational expenses, 0.2 per cent each.
The remaining group – cultural, sports and recreational services – saw a reduction of 0.1 per cent over March. CPI in rural areas nationwide rose by 0.6 per cent, with transport-postal services inching up by 1.5 per cent.
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