Vietnam's consumer price index (CPI) in July is estimated to rise by 0.4 per cent from last month, bringing the inflation rate in the first seven months of this year to 4.4 per cent, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The rise is as the same as the rate seen in June but lower than the average growth of 0.66 per cent in the first half this year.
The CPI surged by 7.5 per cent from a year earlier, GSO said.
In July, cultural-sport-recreational services registered the highest growth among ten commodity groups used to calculate the price index, seeing the rise of 0.9 per cent, followed by the housing and construction materials, with a rise of 0.7 per cent.
Prices of beverages and cigarettes went up 0.6 per cent, equipment and other services up 0.5 per cent, foods and foodstuff and pharmaceutical and medical prices, both up 0.4 per cent.
The costs of garments and footwear, home appliances and educational services and equipment, all increased 0.3 per cent, while the charges for transport and postal services saw the lowest rise of 0.2 per cent.
During the month, the urban areas saw the CPI up 0.5 per cent on month and 8.1 per cent on year, while the rural areas witnessed the increase of 0.3 per cent and 7.1 per cent, respectively.
Both Central Highlands and Mekong Delta regions recorded the highest CPI rise at 0.6 per cent on month, while the northwestern and northeastern regions saw no price hike.
Among localities, the southern province of Vinh Long and Binh Duong had the fastest CPI upsurge of 0.9 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.
The price of gold dropped 3.4 per cent from June, but remained high with an increase of 25.4 per cent from the end of 2005 and 44.2 per cent over the same period last year.
The US dollar decreased 0.2 per cent over last month against the Vietnamese currency.
This year, Vietnam targets to curb the index increase at 6-7 per cent, compared with the increase of 8.4 per cent last year.
GSO Jul 2006
Vietnamese
