Prices of medicine and health care services saw the biggest hike, 8.05 percent, in April (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The consumer priceindex (CPI) in April remained unchanged from the previous month, but up 4.3percent against the same period last year, the General Statistics Office (GSO)announced on April 29.
The average monthly index in the Jan-April period rose 4.8 percent compared tothe same period last year, the office said.
Price increases were seen in seven out of the 11 goods and service groups inthe price basket, with the biggest hike reported in medicine and health careservices (8.05 percent), followed by culture, entertainment and tourism and householdappliances with the same increase of 0.1 percent, and goods and other services (0.08 percent).
Four groups experiencing a price decline weretransportation (1.38 percent), food and catering services (0.66 percent),housing and construction materials (0.24 percent), and telecommunication (0.03percent).
According to Vice Director of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department Do Thi Ngoc,the 10.59-percent increase of the price of medical services applied for health insurancebuyers made CPI rise about 0.41 percent.
Rising tourism demand on the occasion of the nationalholiday (Reunification day on April 30 and May Day), and the increasedconsumption of clothes in the summer were also attributed to the increase ofprices in the relevant groups of goods and services, Ngoc said.
In the month, the average domestic gold pricesrose 1.01 percent from March, fluctuating around 36 million VND (1584 USD) pertael. Meanwhile the VND/USD exchange rate stood at between 22,600-22,700 VNDper USD, down 0.38 percent against the previous month.
The core inflation (excluding food and freshfoodstuff, energy and State-controlled commodities such as health and educationservices) in April rose 0.09 percent from the previous month and 1.5 percent againstthe same period last year.-VNA
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