The capital city would expand its price stabilisation programme to limit the impact of price increase on the people's living standards, Hanoi Industry and Trade Department deputy director Nguyen Van Dong said.

Hanoi would increase the number of fixed and mobile outlets of goods at stabilised prices, especially in suburban areas and industrial zones, and continue bringing rice, meat and eggs to schools and kindergartens.

The department would open nine mobile markets to sell goods in nine districts in the city for farmers.

Relevant offices would closely follow the supply and demand of goods and services in Hanoi, Dong said. The offices would also promote a "market watch", to prevent trade fraud and smuggling, and penalise violations, he said.

Additionally, enterprises that get zero-interest loans under the price stabilisation programme must store goods and expand the distribution system for goods at stabilised prices to avoid escalation, he said.

Dong said that to meet increasing demand on consumption goods for Tet, large companies such as Hapro, Fivimart and BigC, had begun stocking up three months ago.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa said that Hanoi should attract more production enterprises into the stabilisation programm to create a stable supply.

Last year, a number of enterprises based in Hanoi that were not eligible to get loans from the programme still kept products at stabilised prices to reduce difficulty for consumers.

In 2011, Hanoi spent 560 billion VND (26.8 million USD) in total from its budget for the programme. The city last year opened 665 outlets selling price stabilised goods, double the number in 2010. The programme also organised six outlets selling price stabilised goods in industrial zones and provided price-stabilised food to canteens at schools and companies with low-income workers./.