Consumer price index slips 0.07 % during August

It was also the third month of this year to see a plunge in the CPI, following the 0.2 % drop in January and the 0.05 % fall in February, she said.

Two reductions in petrol and oil prices on July 20 and August 4 as well drop in gas price since August 1 had dragged down the CPI, Ngoc said. The lower petrol, oil and gas prices had also heavily pushed down prices for transport services by 2.12 % and had driven down the price of housing and building material products by 0.45 % in August.

The transport services group had the highest price reduction rate for this month, followed by the housing and building material products group (down 0.4 %), with low demand during the monsoon season, and the postal and telecom products group (down 0.02 %).

Meanwhile, prices for the educational services group surged with the highest rate of 0.87 % because of an increase in school fees for the new academic year and higher demand for text books, notebooks and school supplies, the statistics office said.

High demand for garments, hats and footwear pushed up prices for those products against previous months.

Prices for some food products saw growth in August, including fresh eggs, vegetables and fruit.

This month, the gold price fell 3.92 % against the previous month and 10.56 % compared with the same period last year. However, the cost of the US dollar grew by 0.31 % compared with July and 3 % compared with August last year.

The office reported that the central and southern provinces and cities saw a reduction or slight surge in CPI, including Da Nang (down 0.25 %), Thua Thien-Hue (down 0.19 %), HCM City (down 0.12 %) and Can Tho (up 0.01 %).

Meanwhile, the price index increased in most northern provinces and cities, such as Ha Noi (up 0.17 %), Hai Phong (up 0.1 %) and Thai Nguyen (up 0.11 %).