Statistics office says CPI grows slightly in Q1
The consumer price index (CPI) grew 2.82% in the first three months of 2018 compared to the same period last year, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO).
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The GSO and the Ministry of Planning and Investment held a press conference in Hanoi on March 29 to inform the country’s socio-economic indexes in the first quarter of this year.
In March, the index declined 0.27% from February but increased 2.66% over the same period last year.
The growth of CPI in the first quarter was attributable to an annual surge in a number of goods categories.
The price index of health services soared 35.32% during the period, bringing the overall CPI up by 1.37%. The increase was a result of the Health Ministry issuing reference fees for health services targeting people without health insurance across 18 centrally run provinces and cities.
A number of provinces increased tuition fees in the months, making the price index of educational services up by 6.57%, thus adding 0.34% increase to the overall CPI.
Workers’ average wage has been raised since January 1 this year, followed by increases in prices of maintaining and fixing household items and water-electricity services.
The first and second months involved the New Year holidays so there was a high demand for goods and then prices across various services, including food, beverage, apparel, public transport, and tourism were up.
The price of beverage and cigarettes and that of ready-to-wear clothes rose 1.36% and 1.39%, respectively, while the price of public transport service rose 1.87% year on year.
The price of gas was up by 2.83% and that of petroleum surged 9.18% year on year.
The price of US dollar remained quite stable while that of gold fluctuated to the price in the world.
According to the GSO, core inflation in January-March (CPI exclusive of fresh food, energy and State-run health and education services) moved up 1.34% year-on-year.
