HCM City’s CPI inches up 1.19% in February
The consumer price index (CPI) in the southern largest economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City increased 1.19% in February from the previous month, according to the city’s Statistics Office.
Among 11 groups of products and services in the CPI basket, the group of housing, electricity, water and construction materials had the highest price increase of 2.06%. This included a 13% hike in power price, 2.65% rise in water price, and 0.14% fall in housing rent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The prices of restaurant and catering services showed a big jump of 1.35%, with those of foodstuff growing 1.79% from January. The strongest surges in this group were seen in the prices of pork (5.28%), beef (2.36%), poultry (3.99%) and aquatic products (3.12%) due to high demand during the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday – the biggest traditional festival of Vietnamese people.
Moving in the same trend were groups of beverage and tobacco (0.41%), and garment, hats and footwear (0.35%).
Affected by the petrol price hikes on January 26 and February 25, transportation fees increased by 1.68%.
In contrast, the prices of medicine and medical services dropped by 0.05%, and those of the education group decreased by 0.01%.
The Statistics Office also said that the gold price went up by 1.1% while the price of US dollar expanded 0.02% as compared to January.