According to the GSO, 10 of the 11 categories of goods saw increases between 0.12 and 3.09 percent. Post and telecommunications, meanwhile, decreased by 1.23 percent due to promotion campaigns by service providers.

Deputy head of GSO's Trade, Service and Price Department, Nguyen Duc Thang, said the increase of the CPI is attributed to the growing demand before Tet. The prices of foods have picked up by 30-40 percent and are likely to remain high until next month.

Thang said that the rise in the prices of petrol, rice and electricity could cause a 0.7-0.8 percent increase in March’s CPI.

The average price of gold in February fell by 2.03 percent compared to January but was still 42.58 percent higher than last year’s same month.

The price of the US dollar went up by 0.33 percent against January and 8.34 percent compared to a year earlier.

The food and related service sector achieved the highest increase of 3.09 percent, followed by goods (2.52 percent), beverages and tobacco (2.27 percent), accommodation and construction materials (1.75 percent), transport service (1.45 percent), garment and footwear (1.39 percent), and cultural, entertainment and tourism service (1.22 percent). Education saw the lowest rise of 0.12 percent.