CPI Forecast to See No Change in March
Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI), or inflation rate, is forecast to stand still in March, equaling the first two-month growth rate, at 3.3 per cent, according to the Ministry of Trade.
The CPI for the whole first quarter, thus, will remain at the same rate, and will be lower than the rate of the same period last year (3.7 per cent).
The Trade Ministry explained that the goods and service prices had surged sharply before and after the traditional New Year Festival and have fallen since the end of February.
If the weather is stable, bird flu curbed, the inflation rate in this month will be unchanged, the ministry forecast.
This year, the Vietnamese Government targets to subdue the CPI rate below the GDP growth rate, which is set at 8 per cent this year.
At the year-end session of the 11th National Assembly which took place last year, the Central Bank’s governor forecast that the CPI rate would be around 6 per cent in 2006.
Vietnam’s CPI rose by 8.4 per cent last year, going far beyond the initial target of 6.5 per cent. The rate was slightly lower than the economic growth rate, which stood at 8.5 per cent.
People’s Army, Labour
Vietnamese
