CPI up in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City

Hanoi Statistics Office reported on February 22 that the CPI for Hanoi in February rose by 0.47% against the previous month and 1.73% year-on-year.

The CPI this month gained the highest increase since September 2014, the office said.

This month, the city saw the highest growth in prices at 2.45% from the goods group of restaurant and catering services. Prices of rice and vegetables rose steeply in the month due to the Tet festival and the high demand while the market saw a low supply of vegetable due to the cold weather.

They were followed by the group of cultural, entertainment and tourism services with rise in prices at 1.12% because of the high price of fresh flowers and big demand for tours during the long Tet holidays taking tour prices up by 8% to 10%, the office said.

It also said two groups which showed a reduction in prices compared with the previous month were the group of housing, electricity, tap water, and fuel, along with building material by 0.62%, while the group of transportation services was down by 3.59% due to lower fuel and gas prices.

In February, the price of gold surged by 2.08% while the price of United States dollar dropped 0.65% as compared with January.

Ho Chi Minh City's CPI

This month, the CPI in Ho Chi Minh City showed a slight increase of 0.05% over the previous month and 0.72% year-on-year because seven goods items showed an increase in prices, the Ho Chi Mimh City Statistic Office said.

These included the group of restaurant and catering services up 1.25%, food up 1.55% and the group of beverages and tobacco which was up by 0.79%.

The office said the group of housing, electricity, tap water, and fuel along with building material dropped by 0.05% against the previous month as there was lower demand for building materials and a drop in fuel prices.

The prices of the transport group also dropped steeply at 4.52% due to the huge plunge in petrol and oil prices, it said.