The consumer price index (CPI) in October rose slightly by 0.11 percent compared to September, marking the lowest rise for the month since 2009, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO).

Experts said a series of consecutive petrol price cuts caused by four-month reduction of global gas and petrol costs have resulted in the negligible CPI’s growth.

This month, eight out of 11 commodity and service groups in the price basket saw their prices increase with education topping the list with an increase of 1.31 percent as many local governments continue to adjust school fees in line with a roadmap outlined in the Government Decree 49/2010/ND-CP.

For other groups, the rise was small, ranging from 0.02 to 0.53 percent, showing that purchasing power had not improved.

It is notable that food price was relatively stable with minor increase even with the wedding season already setting in.

As a result, the year-on-year inflation rate in October declined to 3.23 percent from 3.62 percent in September.

Nguyen Duc Thang, a senior GSO official, forecast that the CPI in November will follow the same pattern as that of this month./