Vietnam's consumer price index (CPI) in September is estimated to rise by 0.3 per cent from last month and by 6.9 per cent from a year earlier, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO).
The CPI, thus, inflates by 5.1 per cent in the first nine months of this year, which is lower than the 6.8 per cent rise in the same period last year.
The 0.3 per cent rise during this month is also lower than the 0.6 per cent forecast earlier by the government’s market management group.
The lower-than-expected increase in September is attributed to the decline of the food and drink service prices, which fell by 0.2 per cent on-month. Food and drink services make up 42.8 per cent of the basket to calculate the CPI.
Prices for this kind of goods are estimated to increase 7.7 per cent from last September and 5.3 per cent so far this year.
Despite the 2.3 per cent fall in post and telecoms service costs, the prices of transport and postal services group still recorded the highest growth at 1.7 per cent on month. It is estimated to expand 6.3 per cent from the beginning of 2006 and 5.6 per cent from a year earlier.
Compared to last September, prices for the housing and construction materials group are estimated to go up 8.7 per cent, garments and footwear group up 6.2 per cent, household appliances group up 5.6 per cent, other goods and services group up 5.4 per cent, drinks and cigarettes group up 5.3 per cent, medical and healthcare services group up 4.6 per cent, cultural-sport-recreational services group up 3.3 per cent, and education group up 3.1 per cent.
During September, the urban areas see the CPI up 0.3 per cent on-month and 7.5 per cent on-year, while the rural areas witness the increase of 0.3 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively.
Both the Red River Delta and northwestern regions saw the highest CPI rise at 0.5 per cent on month. In other regions, CPI rises 0.2-0.4 per cent.
Among single localities nationwide, the central Danang City has the fastest CPI surge of 0.8 per cent, while the southern Vinh Long Province sees the CPI decline of 0.1 per cent.
The price of gold fell 2.9 per cent from August, but increased 25 per cent from the earlier this year and 41.4 per cent over the same period last year.
The US dollar inched up 0.1 per cent over last month, 0.6 per cent from last December and 0.8 per cent from a year earlier, against the Vietnamese currency.
This year, Vietnamese Government targets to curb the index increase at 6-7 per cent, compared with the increase of 8.4 per cent last year.
However, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has recently projected that Vietnam would face an inflation rate of 8.3 per cent in 2006, while the British Standard Chartered Bank has predicted it would rise 7.7 per cent this year.
(GSO Sep 2006)
Vietnamese
