Consumer Price Index Rises 0.4 per cent in July

In the context that prices of some major commodities have sharply soared up over the recent days, Vietnam's inflation rate stands at a high level this month despite all-out efforts made by the government.

The consumer price index is forecast to slightly increase by 0.4 per cent for July as compared to June, bringing the CPI so far this year to 5.6 per cent, according to the General Statistics Office.

Thus, to keep CPI below 6.5 per cent set by the National Assembly, the CPI must not surpass 0.9 per cent in the remaining months.

As opposed to June, eight out of the ten groups of surveyed products showed price rises between 0.1 and 2 per cent with the highest increase registered by the transport-postal services whose charges rose 2 per cent due to rising petrol prices while prices for housing and construction materials climbed 1.7 per cent. Major reason for the situation is a sudden surge in petrol and oil price set by the government early this month.

Only the prices for foodstuffs witnessed a slight rise of 0.2 per cent against that of 0.9 per cent in June while food prices continue to drop by 0.6 per cent.

In addition, the prices of gold and US dollars have soared up by 1.2 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively, as compared to last month.

In rural areas, CPI reportedly increased by 0.5 per cent with the highest rise of 2.5 per cent registered by the housing and construction materials followed by transport-postal services and education with respective figures of 2.4 per cent and 1 per cent.

Thus, among other areas, the rural localities have suffered losses mostly from petrol and oil price hikes.

Among the ten localities surveyed central coastal Binh Dinh and southern Dong Nai provinces registered the highest increase in CPI (0.9 per cent), followed by central Thua Thien-Hue and Da Nang provinces (0.7 per cent). Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang are the only two localities that recorded a fall of 0.1 per cent in the CPI this month.

Earlier, on July 20, the Government asked all ministries and branches to strictly manage prices of commodities of essential need while striving to obtain an economic growth rate of at least 9.3 per cent in the second half of the year to fulfill the country's annual economic growth target of 8.5 per cent.

• P.T