The consumer price index (CPI) in the capital Hanoi expanded slightly by 0.49 percent in February. It, however, marked a surge of 5.93 percent over the same period last year.

Food and restaurant service group saw the highest rise of 1.06 percent, while medicine and healthcare services recorded the lowest increase of only 0.04 percent.

Prices of drinks and cigarettes were up 0.49 percent, while apparels and footwear experienced only a small rise of 0.19 percent.

The groups of cultural, entertainment and tourism services edged up by 0.52 percent.

Particularly, the price remained unchanged in the group of education and telecommunication products.

In February, gold prices saw a sharp rise of 2.64 percent against the previous month while the USD/VND exchange rate remained steady.-VNA