CPI up 2.27 percent in January-October

Hanoi (VNA) – The consumer price index (CPI) in the first 10 months of 2016 registered a year-on-year increase of 2.27 percent, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced on October 28.

In October alone, the CPI rose 0.83 percent against September and 4.09 percent over the same period last year, mainly driven by the adjustment of prices in medical services, said Director of the GSO’s Price Statistics Department Do Thi Ngoc.

Growth was seen in nine out of the 11 major goods and service groups with the biggest upturn reported in medicine and health care services (10.07 percent), followed by transportation (2.02 percent), education (0.61 percent), housing and construction materials (0.31 percent), and food and catering services (0.17 percent).

Two groups experiencing a price decline were culture, entertainment and tourism (0.02 percent) and telecommunication (0.12 percent).

Rising school tuitions at some centrally-run cities and provinces as well as gas and petrol price hikes were also attributed to the increasing CPI, Ngoc said.

In the month, the average domestic gold prices fluctuated at around 3.545 million VND per tael while the VND/USD exchange rate was stable at around 22,011 VND per USD.

The core inflation (excluding food and fresh foodstuff, energy and State-controlled commodities such as health and education services) in October climbed 0.07 percent from the previous month and 1.86 percent against the same period last year.

The CPI in November is forecast to continue increasing due to price hikes in health services, oil and petrol, and food.-VNA