Ho Chi Minh City’s consumer price index (CPI) in March rose by 0.78 percent over the previous month, according to the city’s Statistics Office.

The city recorded a CPI increase of 3.78 percent in the first three months with an average monthly rise of 1.26 percent.

The index represented a 10.27 percent rise over the same period last year.

Commodities saw high increases in the price included transport services ( up 1.48 percent), housing and construction materials (up 1.26 percent) and restaurant services (up 1.00 percent).

Other groups, including beverage, cigarettes, garment-footwear, household equipment and utensils, medicines and health care services, education, culture-entertainment-tourism services and other items saw a slight jump in CPI, ranging between 0.13 and 0.80 percent.

The price of post-telecommunication and food saw slight decreases of 0.27 percent and 1.23 percent, respectively while foodstuff price up 1.62 percent.

Experts said that the CPI this month is mainly affected by the increase in the prices of petrol-gas and transportation./.